4---Y 


Brattlei^oro 
public    library 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


WOMEN'S  EDUCATIONAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL  UNION 

BOSTON 

DEPARTMENT  OF  RESEARCH 


STUDIES  IN 
ECONOMIC  RELATIONS  OF  WOMEN 

VOLUME  III 


Women's  Educational  and  Industrial 
Union,  Boston 

Department  of  Research 


Studies  in  Economic  Relations  of  Women 


Volume  I.  Vocations  for  the  Trained  Woman.  Opportu- 
nities other  than  Teaching.  Edited  by  Agnes  F. 
Perkins.     8vo.,  $1.20  net.    Postage  extra. 

Volume  II.  Labor  Laws  and  their  Enforcement,  with 
Special  Reference  to  Massachusetts.  By  Charles  E. 
Persons,  Mabel  Parton,  Mabelle  Moses  and  Three 
"Fellows."  Edited  by  Susan  M.  Kingsbury,  Ph.D. 
8vo.,  $2.00  net.    Postage  extra. 

Volume  III.  The  Living  Wage  of  Women  Workers.  A 
Study  of  Incomes  and  Expenditures  of  450  Women  in 
the  City  of  Boston.  By  Louise  Marion  Bosworth. 
Edited  with  an  introduction  by  F.  Spencer  Baldwin, 
Ph.D.    8vo.,  $1.00ne<.     Postage  extra. 


Longmans,  Green,  and  Co. 

NEW  YORK,  LONDON,  BOMBAY,  AND  CALCUTTA 


THE  LIVING  WAGE  OF 
WOMEN  WORKERS 


A  STUDY  OF  INCOMES  AND  EXPENDITURES  OF  450  WOMEN  IN  THE 
CITY  OF  BOSTON 


BY 

LOUISE   MARION   BOSWORTH 


Prepared  Under  the  Direction  of  the 

Department  of  Research 

WOMEN'S  Educational  and  Industrial  Union,  Boston 


EDITED  WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION 

BY 

PROFESSOR  F.  SPENCER  BALDWIN,  Ph.D. 
boston  university 


LONGMANS,  GREEN,  AND  CO. 

FOURTH  AVENUE  &  30TH  STREET,  NEW  YORK 
LONDON,  BOMBAY  AND  CALCUTTA 

1911 


Copyright,  191 1,  by 

The  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science 

Philadelphia 


H4) 

(oO(ol 
365   Jt 


CONTENTS 


PREFATORY  NOTE. 

PAGE 

Plan  and  Scope  of  the  Investigation 1-3 


CHAPTER  I. 

Introduction   4-18 

"v'  Field  covered  in  the  investigation,  4 — Need  of  definite  information 

concerning  cost  of  living  of  wage-earning  women,  4 — Increase  in 
number  of  women  workers,  4 — Cause  of  this  increase,  5 — Eixisting 
literature  on  the  subject,  5 — Problems  raised  by  increase  of  women 
workers,  6 — Problem  of  low  pay  only  one  dealt  with  fully  thus 
far,  7 — Causes  of  low  wages,  7 — This  volume  classified  by  occupa- 
tions and  wage  groups,  8 — Nine  to  eleven  dollars,  the  minimum 
living  wage,  9 — Facts  revealed  by  comparison  of  expenditures,  12 — 
Difference  between  expenditures  of  families  and  expenditures  of 
wage-earning  women,  13 — Summary  of  significant  features  of  ex- 
penditures, 14.  Table  i.  Average  annual  expenditures  of  women 
workers,  by  occupation,  16 — Table  2.  Average  annual  expenditures 
of  women  workers,  by  wage  groups,  17 — Table  3.  Percentages  of 
Expenditures  of  Normal  Families  in  the  United  States,  18 — Table 
4.  Percentages  of  Expenditures  of  Families  in  New  York  City, 
18 — Table  5.  Percentages  of  Expenditures  of  Families  in  New  York 
City,  18 — Table  6.  Percentages  of  Expenditures  of  Workingmen's 
Families  in  Massachusetts,  18. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Homes  and  Lodgings 19-32 

Range  in  conditions  of  living,  19 — Longing  for  a  home  almost 
universal,  19 — Illustrations  from  experiences  of  some  girls,  20 — 
Schemes  for  co-operative  housekeeping,  21 — The  woman  in  lodgings, 
22 — Dangers  to  unprotected  girls,  23 — Conditions  in  different  quar- 
ters of  the  city,  23 — The  South  End,  24 — The  West  End,  26 — 
Conditions  in  the  suburbs,  27 — Comparisons  of  house  privileges  in 
city  and  in  suburbs,  27 — The  Working  Girls'  Homes,  29 — Problem 
of  housing  for  single  men  and  women  even  more  important  than 
for  family,  30 — Girls  who  live  at  home,  31 — Comparisons  of  experi- 
ences of  girls  living  at  home  and  in  lodgings,  31.  ' 

(iii) 


G90G40 


iv  Contents 

CHAPTER  III. 

PAGE 

Nominal  Versus  Actual  Incomes  33-39 

Weekly  wages  of  working  girl  not  indicative  of  actual  yearly 
income,  S3 — Various  causes  of  shrinkage  of  income,  33 — Girl  on 
low  wage  has  heaviest  loss,  33 — Distribution  of  loss  by  occupa- 
tions, 33 — Comparison  of  losses  by  occupation,  33 — Heaviest  loss 
from  unemployment,  34 — How  this  curtailment  of  income  is  met, 
35 — Compensations  provided  by  the  work  itself,  35 — Additions  to 
income  tend  to  be  complementary  to  losses,  35 — Disproportion  of 
losses  shows  that  efficiency  is  more  highly  rewarded  than  is  indicated 
by  difference  in  nominal  wages,  36 — Nominal  rate  of  wage  from 
4  per  cent  to  14  per  cent  above  actual  income,  36.  Table  i.  Modifi- 
cation of  incomes  by  losses  and  gains,  by  occupation,  37 — Table  2. 
Modification  of  incomes  by  losses  and  gains,  by  wage  groups,  37 — 
Table  3.  Sources  of  losses,  by  occupation,  38 — Table  4.  Sources  of 
gains,  by  occupation,  39 — Table  5.  Sources  of  gains,  by  wage 
groups,  39. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Food  40-48 

Food  problem  most  serious  for  woman  on  small  wages,  40 — Oppor- 
tunities for  board,  40 — Conditions  in  dining  rooms  of  the  "homes," 
40 — The  basement  dining  rooms,  42 — Cheapest  method  is  for  girl 
to  cook  her  own  food,  43 — Work  as  a  waitress  considered  a  solu- 
tion of  problem  for  woman  on  low  wage,  44 — Standard  of  living  in 
respect  to  food  according  to  occupation,  45 — Classification  of  food 
expenditure  by  wage  groups,  45 — Tendency  of  lowest  paid  workers 
to  seek  positions  including  board,  46 — Table  i.  Average  annual 
expenditures  for  food,  by  occupation,  47 — Table  2.  Average  annual 
expenditures  for  food,  by  wage  groups,  47 — Table  3.  Number  of 
meals  received  as  wages,  and  number  doing  own  cooking,  by  occu- 
pation, 47 — Table  4.  Number  of  meals  received  as  wages,  and 
number  doing  own  cooking,  by  wage  groups,  48. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Rent 49-64 

Proportion  of  income  spent  for  rent  according  to  occupations,  49 — 
Factory  girls  and  waitresses  spend  very  little,  50 — Effect  of  working 
conditions  on  standards,  50 — Amount  spent  for  rent  rises  as  income 
increases,  51 — Forms  of  economy  in  rent,  52 — Roommates,  52 — 
Windows,  53 — Lighting,  54 — Heat,  54 — House  privileges,  55 — Parlor, 


Contents 


55 — Laundry,  55 — Advantages  resulting  from  ability  to  pay  higher 
rent  are  privacy,  heat,  and  sunshine,  56 — Advantages  of  living  at 
home,  57 — Table  i.  Average  annual  expenditures  for  rent,  by  occu- 
pation, 59 — Table  2.  Average  annual  expenditures  for  rent,  by  wage 
groups,  59 — Table  3.  Extent  of  suburban  residence,  by  occupation, 
59 — Table  4.  Extent  of  suburban  residence,  by  wage  groups,  60 — 
Table  5.  Number  of  roommates,  by  occupation,  60 — Table  6. 
Number  of  roommates,  by  wage  groups,  61 — Table  7.  Size  of 
room  and  exterior  light,  by  occupation,  61 — Table  8.  Size  of  room 
and  exterior  light,  by  wage  groups,  62 — Table  9.  Artificial  light  and 
heat,  by  occupation,  62 — Table  10.  Artificial  light  and  heat,  by  wage 
groups,  63 — Table  11.  House  privileges,  by  occupation,  63 — Table 
12.  House  privileges,  by  wage  groups,  64 — Table  13.  Contributions 
to  support  of  family  by  women  workers  living  at  home,  64. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Clothing  65-75 

Results  of  investigations  do  not  support  common  opinions  regarding 
working  girl's  extravagance  in  dress,  65 — Value  of  good  clothes  to 
woman  worker,  66 — Installment  buying  condemned,  67 — Require- 
ments of  dress  according  to  occupations,  67 — Influence  of  individual 
taste  and  economy,  68 — Higher  standard  required  of  workers  in 
contact  with  public,  70 — Problem  of  laundry,  70 — Theoretical 
ranking  of  occupations  in  respect  to  expenditure  for  clothing,  71 — 
Proportion  of  income  expended,  71 — Other  factors  which  determine 
clothing  expenditure,  72 — Shorter  hours,  72 — Working  conditions, 
72 — Average  cost  by  wage  groups,  73 — Table  i.  Average  annual 
expenditures  for  clothing,  by  occupation,  74 — Table  2.  Average 
annual  expenditures  for  clothing,  by  wage  groups,  74 — Table  3. 
Home  dressmaking  and  laundry  work,  by  occupation,  75 — Table  4. 
Cost  of  clothing  and  laundry,  by  wage  groups,  75. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Health    76-78 

Expenditures  for  health  vary  according  to  amount  of  outlay,  and 
its  proportion  to  income,  76 — Comparison  of  expenditures  by  occu- 
pation, 76 — Comparison  of  expenditures  by  wage  groups,  77 — 
Insufficient  wages  do  not  permit  of  necessary  medical  treatment, 
77 — High  wages  tend  to  diminish  need  of  such  treatment,  77 — Use 
of  free  beds  in  hospitals,  77 — Table  i.  Average  annual  expenditures 
for  health,  by  occupation,  78 — Table  2.  Average  annual  expenditures 
for  health,  by  wage  groups,  78. 


vi  Contents 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

PAGE 

Savings  and  Debts  79-84 

Difficulty  of  obtaining  information,  79 — General  apathy  among 
women  toward  saving,  79 — Report  of  Women's  Committee  on 
Savings  Bank  Insurance  of  Boston,  March,  1910,  80 — Comparison 
of  savings  by  occupation,  81 — Comparison  of  savings  by  wage 
groups,  82 — Form  of  savings,  82 — Co-operative  savings  bank,  82 — 
Stamp  savings,  82 — Insurance  only  permanent  form,  82.  Table  i. 
Average  annual  savings  and  debts,  by  occupation,  83 — Table  2. 
Average  annual  savings  and  debts,  by  wage  groups,  83 — Table  3. 
Average  annual  amount  of  insurance  by  wage  groups,  84. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

LIlSCELLANEOUS  EXPENDITURES,   INCLUDING   RECREATION   AND  EDUCATION.    85-9O 

Separate  classification  of  expenditures  for  recreation  and  education 
of  necessity  arbitrary,  85 — Opportunities  in  Boston,  85 — Comparison 
by  occupation,  85 — Miscellaneous  expenditures  on  others  rather  than 
for  self,  86 — Comparison  of  amounts  spent  for  others  by  wage 
groups,  87 — Conclusion  that  average  working  woman  does  not 
squander  surplus,  but  devotes  it  largely  to  others,  87.  Table  i. 
Average  annual  expenditures  for  recreation,  education,  and  other 
objects,  by  occupation,  88 — Table  2.  Average  annual  expenditures 
for  recreation,  education,  and  other  objects,  by  wage  groups,  89 — 
Table  3.  Average  annual  expenditures  for  self  and  others,  by  occu- 
pation, 90 — Table  4.  Average  annual  expenditures  for  self  and 
others,  by  wage  groups,  90. 


PREFATORY  NOTE 

PLAN    AND   SCOPE   OF  THE   INVESTIGATION 

A  tentative  beginning  of  this  investigation  was  made  in  Septem- 
ber, 1906,  when  the  Department  of  Research  of  the  Women's  Edu- 
cational and  Industrial  Union  attempted  to  gather  data  concerning 
the  cost  of  living  for  working  girls  dependent  on  their  own  resources 
through  inquiries  among  lodging-house  proprietors.  The  few  sched- 
ules that  were  filled  out  by  this  means  were  so  inadequate,  however, 
that  they  were  found  to  be  useless  for  the  purposes  of  the  present 
report. 

In  January,  1907,  the  work  of  investigation  was  taken  up  by 
Miss  Jane  Barclay,  who  had  received  training  in  welfare  work  in  a 
Boston  department  store.  The  method  followed  at  this  time  con- 
sisted in  the  distribution  of  schedules  to  be  filled  out  by  women 
workers,  assisted  through  personal  visits  by  the  investigator.  In 
this  way  100  schedules  were  started. 

After  several  months  it  became  clear  that  authoritative  infor- 
mation as  to  minor  expenses  could  not  be  obtained  in  this  fashion. 
In  order  to  secure  such  information  the  Department  of  Research 
prepared  and  printed  a  classified  account  book  for  the  use  of 
the  women  workers  dealt  with  in  the  investigation.  At  this  point 
the  work  was  taken  up  and  carried  forward  to  its  conclusion  by 
Miss  Bosworth,  who  held  a  fellowship  for  the  years  1907-1909.  Ac- 
count books  were  distributed  to  the  100  women  already  engaged  in 
filling  out  schedules.  The  result  was  an  immediate  depletion  in 
their  ranks.  The  interest  of  others  also  gradually  waned.  In  fact, 
most  of  the  women  had  been  interested  in  the  beginning  only 
through  the  vision  of  higher  wages,  and' when  they  found  that  the 
investigator  could  not  promise  them  living  wages  immediately  on 
the  completion  of  a  year's  accounts,  they  decided  that  the  bother 
of  account  keeping  was  not  worth  while.  Thus,  one  by  one,  they 
dropped  out. 

The  investigation  was  then  extended  along  different  lines.  In 
various  ways  the  investigator  got  into  touch  with  working  girls — 
through  the  medium  of  clubs,  unions,  settlements,  department 
stores,  and  through  addresses  furnished  by  societies,  institutions 

(I) 


2  The  Lizin^  JVage  of  Jl'oiicn  Workers 

and  the  state  free  employment  offices.  Accoimt  books  were  dis- 
tributed to  the  women  who  were  thus  reached  and  were  followed 
up  as  far  as  possible.  This  work  with  the  account  books  finally 
yielded  a  return  of  30  books  completely  and  accurately  filled  out. 
Information  was  also  gathered  from  about  470  women  through 
schedules  covering  the  items  of  expenditure  and  the  conditions  of 
living  in  detail.  These  were  filled  out  through  personal  interviews 
either  by  the  investigator  herself  or  other  members  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Research.  Shorter  schedules  were  sent  to  workers  in 
factories  and  stores  who  could  not  be  reached  by  a  personal 
interview. 

Doubt  has  frequently  been  expressed  as  to  the  possibility  of 
getting  accurate  statements  of  expenditure  when  the  figures  are 
given  from  memory  and  not  taken  from  books.  This  criticism  is,  of 
course,  a  fair  one.  The  only  way  of  securing  absolutely  trustworthy 
data  is  by  examining  account  books.  Undoubtedly,  however,  the 
schedules,  when  filled  out  intelligently  and  honestly,  give  the  main 
facts  and  show  the  main  trend  of  expenditures.  In  general,  the 
investigator  has  been  surprised  by  the  accuracy  and  detail  with 
which  women,  especially  those  on  low  wages,  are  able  to  recall 
their  earnings  and  expenditures.  In  some  cases  the  recollection  has 
been  very  complete.  Indeed,  this  facility  of  recollection  is,  after 
all,  not  remarkable.  When  the  investigator  begins  with  general 
questions  concerning  current  expenses,  such  as  board  and  room, 
and  then  proceeds  to  details,  the  latter  come  to  the  mind  with 
comparative  ease.  In  this  way  such  details  as  the  time  lost  by 
sickness,  unemployment,  and  the  like,  can  be  recalled.  The  same 
method  brings  out  the  itemized  expenditures  for  clothing ;  first,  such 
easily  remembered  items  as  suits  and  hats  are  determined,  and 
minor  details  are  then  added  in  natural  order.  Doubtless  the  state- 
ments of  expenditures  on  some  of  the  schedules  are  only  approxi- 
mate. Inaccuracies,  however,  probably  occur  chiefly  under  the  head- 
ings of  miscellaneous  expenditures.  On  the  whole,  the  figures  given 
undoubtedly  show  the  general  proportion  of  all  classes  of  ex- 
penditures. 

The  total  number  of  schedules  received  was  roundly  500.  The 
rejection  of  schedules  for  incompleteness,  inconsistencies  and  other 
causes  reduced  the  number  of  schedules  suitable  for  tabulation  to 
450.     Of  the  workers  represented  on  the  schedules  about  200  were 


Prefatory  Note  3 

interviewed  by  Miss  Bosworth,  and  about  lOO  by  another  investiga- 
tor. The  remaining  schedules  were  turned  in  by  members  of  the 
Department  of  Research,  employers  and  workers. 

The  investigation  was  conducted  throughout  under  the  direction 
of  Miss  Mabel  Parton.  In  the  initial  phases  of  the  study  Miss 
Bosworth  also  had  the  advice  of  Professor  William  Z.  Ripley,  as 
a  part  of  a  research  course  at  Radclifife  College.  Upon  Miss  Par- 
ton's  illness,  the  present  director  assumed  an  advisory  relation  to 
Miss  Bosworth  in  her  organization  of  material  and  interpretation 
of  data.  Acknowledgment  of  kindly  assistance  is  due  to  the  lead- 
ers of  working  girls'  clubs  and  to  the  superintendents  of  "homes," 
and  especially  to  the  large  number  of  girls  who  consented  to  give 
their  experience  and  interest  in  order  to  advance  the  welfare  of 
fellow-workers. 

Susan  M.  Kingsbury, 
Director  of   the  Department   of   Research, 
Women's  Educational  and  Industrial  Union. 

Boston,  April  3,  191 1. 


CHAPTER    I 

INTRODUCTION 

This  Study  of  the  expenditures  of  women  workers  is  based  on 
detailed  records  of  the  Hving  expenses  of  450  wage-earning  women 
in  the  city  of  Boston.  The  material  was  collected  through  budget 
schedules  and  personal  interviews.  Although  the  investigation  was 
thus  limited  in  scope,  it  is  believed  that  the  results  are  fairly  repre- 
sentative of  the  living  conditions  among  working  women  of  all  ranks 
in  one  American  city.^ 

The  question  of  the  living  wage  for  the  woman  worker  is 
hardly  touched  at  all  in  the  existing  literature  of  work  and  wages. 
There  are  numerous  studies  of  women's  work,  but  they  do  not  deal 
with  the  living  wage;  there  are  also  various  treatises  on  the  latter 
subject,  but  they  do  not  discuss  it  with  reference  to  women 
workers.  The  need  of  definite  information  on  the  cost  of  living 
for  the  wage-earning  woman  is  a  real  one.  A  few  years  ago  a 
group  of  working  women,  in  making  a  demand  upon  their  employer 
for  higher  wages,  declared,  "We  cannot  live  on  what  we  earn."  The 
employer  inquired,  "Then  what  w^ages  can  you  live  on?"  No  one 
of  the  women  could  answer  the  question  definitely  or  in  any  other 
way  than  by  an  estimate  of  her  own  individual  needs.  In  general, 
the  employer  who  wishes  to  pay  a  living  wage  to  his  women  employes 
cannot  tell  what  the  amount  should  be.  The  determination  of 
standards  of  expenditure  and  remuneration  for  women  is  thus  a 
matter  not  merely  of  academic  interest,  but  really  of  practical 
importance. 

In  recent  years  there  has  been  a  general  awakening  o.f  interest 
in  all  questions  relating  to  the  industrial  employment  of  women. 
This  has  come  as  a  natural  result  of  the  great  increase  in  the 
number  of  women  workers.  The  proportion  of  women  workers  in 
the  employed  population  of  the  United  States  has  increased  notably 
in  recent  decades.  In  1880  women  workers  made  up  13.5  per  cent, 
of  the  total  number  of  bread-winners,  3.2  per  cent,  of  those 
employed  in  trade  and  transportation,  and  15.4  per  cent,  of  the 
employes  in  manufacturing  industries.-     In  1900  the  corresponding 

^See  Prefatory  Note. 

*See  Adams  and  Sumner,  "Labor  Problems,"  p.  41. 

(4) 


Introduction  5 

percentages  were  16.6,  lo.i  and  16.9.  The  census  figures  of  1910 
are  not  yet  available,  but  there  cau  be  no  doubt  that  the  increase  in 
the  number  of  women  workers,  as  shown  by  the  figures  given  for 
previous  decades,  has  gone  on  at  an  even  greater  rate  during  the 
last  decade.  The  increase  in  the  field  of  trade  and  transportation 
is  particularly  striking.  This  class  of  occupations  includes  clerks, 
stenographers  and  other  branches  of  employment  in  which  women 
have  largely  displaced  men.  The  fact  that  recent  additions  to  the 
ranks  of  women  workers  have  taken  place  chiefly  in  this  field 
aggravates  the  problems  centering  about  the  cost  of  living  for 
wage-earning  women,  as  these  are  city  occupations  which  involve 
a  higher  scale  of  expenditure  in  proportion  to  earnings  than  the 
average  employment  in  manufacturing  industries. 

The  causes  of  the  recent  influx  of  women  into  all  fields  of 
employment  are  easily  discernible.  The  main  cause  is  not,  as  is 
often  assumed,  the  desire  to  earn  "pin  money."  A  recent  investi- 
gator declares  that  the  girls  working  for  pin  money  are  negligible 
factors.  "The  women  were  working  from  economic  compulsion." 
That  is  unquestionably  the  principal  motive  of  the  economic  activity 
of  women.  It  is  supplemented  in  some  cases  by  higher  and  finer 
motives  of  personal  ambition,  or  the  determination  to  make  an 
independent  career,  to  realize  the  possibilities  of  personal  develop- 
ment and  social  service,  which  in  the  past  have  been  reserved  largely 
for  men.  The  pressure  of  economic  necessity,  it  should  be  noted, 
has  been  increased  greatly  in  recent  years  by  the  advance  in  the  cost 
of  living,  which  has  forced  women  into  the  trades  to  supplement 
inadequate  family  incomes. 

The  growing  interest  in  problems  of  women's  work  and  wages 
has  produced  a  large  output  of  literature  in  this  field  within  the 
last  year  or  two.  Miss  Elizabeth  B.  Butler's  volume  on  "Women 
in  the  Trades"  in  the  Pittsburgh  Survey  Series  of  the  Russell  Sage 
Foundation,  1909,  is  an  intensive  local  study  of  the  working  women 
of  the  steel  metropolis.  Miss  Edith  Abbott's  "Women  in  Industry," 
1910,  is  a  comprehensive  historical  review  of  the  expansion  of 
woman's  sphere  of  industrial  activity.  Miss  Annie  M.  MacLean's 
"Wage-Earning  Women,"  1910,  is  an  extensive  national  survey  of 
the  present  conditions  of  women  workers  based  on  material  gathered 
under  the  direction  of  a  committee  of  the  Young  Women's  Chris- 
tian Association.    Mr.  William  Hard's  and  Mrs.  Rheta  Child  Dorr's 


6  TJtc  Liiing  Jl'agc  of  IVoiiicn  Workers 

articles  on  "The  Woman's  Invasion"  in  Everybody's  Magazine, 
1908-1909.  are  popular  and  pictUFCsque  in  style,  but  discriminating 
and  illuminating  in  treatment.  None  of  the  previous  studies  dealt 
with  the  cost  of  living  for  working  women.  The  Report  on  Con- 
ditions of  Women  and  Child  Wage-Earners  in  the  United  States 
issued  by  the  Bureau  of  Labor  under  a  Resolve  of  1907,  authorizing 
an  investigation  in  this  field,  will,  when  completed,  present  a  mass 
of  information  relating  to  the  subject.  Thus  far  two  volumes  have 
been  issued,  dealing  with  the  "Cotton  Textile  Industry"  and  "Men's 
Ready-made  Clothing."  If  one  may  judge  by  the  plan  and  scope 
of  these  volumes,  the  report  will  contain  very  little  matter  bearing 
directly  upon  problems  of  expenditure  and  the  living  wage.  The 
National  Consumers'  League,  however,  has  collected  information 
covering  the  earnings  and  expenditures  of  self-supporting  women 
in  New  York  City.  This  material  has  been  w'orked  up  in  articles 
on  "Working  Girls'  Budgets,"  by  Mrs.  Sue  Ainslie  Clark  and  Miss 
Edith  Wyatt,  published  in  McClure's  Magadne,  1910.  These  articles 
present  the  material  according  to  the  case  method ;  that  is,  they  are 
made  up  of  a  series  of  stories  of  the  experiences  of  individual 
workers.  Thus  no  systematic  study  has  yet  been  made  of  the  ques- 
tions of  expenditure  and  the  living  wage  for  working  women. 

In  general,  there  is  a  lack  of  definiteness  and  conclusiveness 
about  the  work  of  investigators  and  writers  who  have  dealt  with 
the  subject  of  women's  work  and  wages.  A  mass  of  material  is  laid 
before  the  reader,  but  it  is  not  interpreted  and  illuminated  by  the 
author.  There  is  a  failure  to  define  clearly  at  the  outset  the  objects 
of  inquiry  and  the  questions  at  issue,  to  direct  the  investigation  con- 
sistently toward  these  ends  and  to  focus  the  final  results  in  such  a 
way  as  to  throw  light  on  the  problems  in  this  field.  The  existing 
literature  of  the  subject  in  general  makes  interesting  reading,  but 
does  not  afford  satisfactory  answers  to  the  many  questions  that  arise 
in  the  reader's  mind.  Thus  most  of  the  investigation  concerning 
women's  employment  thus  far  appears  to  be  rather  aimless,  point- 
less and  useless. 

The  problems  raised  by  the  increasing  participation  of  women 
in  gain-bringing  pursuits  are  many  and  various.  In  general,  what 
is  the  effect  of  industrial  employment  on  the  status  of  woman,  mar- 
riage and  family:  That  is  to  say,  is  the  new  role  degrading  woman, 
antagonizing  marriage,  and  disintegrating  family  life,  or  is  its  influ- 


Introduction  7 

ence  in  these  directions  elevating?  Again,  is  the  competition  of 
women  workers  a  menace  to  male  workers?  On  the  side  of  earn- 
ings, the  chief  problem  in  this  field  relates  to  the  causes  of  the  low 
pay  of  women  and  the  possibility  of  applying  remedies.  On  the 
side  of  spending,  the  main  question  concerns  the  amount  of  expendi- 
ture that  may  be  regarded  as  constituting  a  living  wage.  What  is 
the  minimum  amount  necessary  to  decent  and  comfortable  existence 
for  the  woman  worker?  How  is  the  income  distributed  among  the 
several  objects  of  expenditure — food,  rent,  clothing,  etc.?  How 
does  the  distribution  of  expenditures  for  the  woman  wage-earner 
compare  in  detail  with  the  distribution  of  individual  or  family 
expenditures  in  general,  as  shown  by  investigations  in  this  field? 
How  do  expenditures  vary  according  to  occupation?  How  accord- 
ing to  earnings?  What  special  problems  of  expenditure  suggest 
themselves  in  the  light  of  a  study  of  working  women's  budgets? 

The  investigations  thus  far  made  with  reference  to  the  employ- 
ment of  women  throw  a  good  deal  of  light  on  the  problem  of  low 
pay,  but  almost  no  light  at  all  on  the  question  of  the  living  wage. 
The  causes  of  the  low  rate  of  earnings  for  women  are  fairly  well 
understood  and  progress  toward  the  improvement  of  conditions  in 
this  respect  has  already  been  made.  The  primary  cause  of  the  low 
pay  of  women  is  undoubtedly  comparative  inefficiency,  due  to  vari- 
ous reasons.  The  physical  limitations  of  woman  make  her  a  less 
efficient  worker  than  man  in  certain  occupations.  Her  lack  of 
trained  skill  is  also  a  handicap.  In  this  connection,  the  fact  that 
many  women  take  up  industrial  employment  as  a  temporary  make- 
shift rather  than  as  a  life  career  is  important.  Women  workers  in 
this  position  are  not  likely  to  make  any  great  effort  to  master  thor- 
oughly the  requirements  of  their  occupations  and  thus  to  fit  them- 
selves to  earn  higher  wages.  Moreover,  not  only  is  woman  actually 
less  efficient  as  compared  with  man  in  some  branches  of  employ- 
ment, but  she  is  often  regarded  as  his  inferior  in  general.  The 
traditional  notion  of  woman's  inferiority  stands  in  the  way  of  the 
advance  of  her  wages  to  the  level  of  men's.  It  leads  employers  to 
pay  women  workers  less  than  men,  even  when  their  labor  may 
actually  be  of  equal  value.  Lack  of  organization,  furthermore,  is  a 
potent  influence  in  keeping  the  rate  of  women's  pay  unduly  low. 
Women  workers  have  not  in  the  past  combined  to  protect  their 


8  The  Living  Wage  of  Women  Workers 

interests,  and  modern  political  economy  recognizes  the  truth  that  if 
the  worker  does  not  seek  his  interest  alertly  and  persistently  his 
interest  will  not  seek  him.  The  fact  that  woman's  relation  to  her 
work  is  often  parasitical  is  another  factor  in  the  situation.  The 
wages  of  many  women  workers  are  not  their  only  means  of  support, 
but  are  merely  supplementary  to  income  derived  from  other  sources. 
Thus,  part  of  the  supply  of  female  labor  is  of  the  nature  of  a  by- 
product, and  is  correspondingly  cheap.  Finally,  the  sheer  inertia 
of  custom  stands  in  the  way  of  the  advance  of  women's  wages.  The 
employer  does  not  pay  full  wages  to  women  because  it  is  not  the 
general  practice  to  do  so.  The  established  custom  of  paying  women 
low  wages  is  thus  in  itself  a  barrier  to  reform. 

As  the  causes  of  low  wages  have  come  to  be  understood  reme- 
dies have  been  applied.  Facilities  for  the  industrial  training  of 
women  workers  have  been  provided.  Additional  safeguards  have 
been  thrown  about  women's  employment  by  the  improvement  of  the 
labor  code  and  the  education  of  public  opinion,  and  women  workers 
have  been  organized  in  trade  unions  in  some  branches  of  employ- 
ment. Of  course,  much  still  remains  to  be  done  toward  the  better- 
ment of  working  conditions  for  women,  but  a  substantial  beginning 
has  been  made  in  this  field. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  the  field  of  expenditures,  hardly  a  begin- 
ning has  yet  been  made.  The  problems  relating,  to  expenditures  and 
the  living  wage  remain  unsolved.  Indeed,  the  facts  requisite  for 
intelligent  consideration  of  these  problems  have  not  yet  been  col- 
lected. The  study  of  the  cost  of  living  of  a  considerable  number 
of  Boston  working  women  presented  in  this  volume  makes  no  pre- 
tense of  offering  final  answers  and  solutions  of  the  problems  in  this 
field.  It  does,  however,  represent  a  serious  attempt  to  collect  and 
interpret  a  body  of  material  that  may  give  help  toward  such  solution. 

In  tabulating  and  presenting  the  returns  the  investigator  has 
adopted  a  two-fold  classification,  namely :  according  to  occupations 
and  according  to  earnings.^  The  incomes  and  expenditures  of  each 
class  and  group  have  been  averaged;  thus  the  figures  given  in  the 
tables  are  in  all  cases  averages.  The  classification  of  occupations 
contains  six  divisions,  namely:   professional  women,  clerical  work- 

iThe  editor  of  this  volume  had  no  part  In  determining  the  methods  or  directing 
the  course  of  the  investigation.  His  task  began  only  when  the  final  results  wers 
submitted  in  manuscript  form. 


Introduction  9 

ers,  saleswomen,  factory  employes,  waitresses  and  kitchen  workers.^ 
The  wage  groups  are  five  in  number,  namely:  (i)  $3  to  $5  per 
week;  (2)  $6  to  $8  per  week;  (3)  $9  to  $11  per  week;  (4)  $12  to 
$14  per  week;  (5)  $15  and  over  per  week. 

As  not  all  of  the  450  schedules  which  were  received  contained 
entries  under  all  headings  of  inquiry  the  number  of  cases  repre- 
sented in  the  different  tables  varies  somewhat.  The  number  of 
schedules  giving  returns  for  clothing,  which  was  about  the  average 
number  in  the  different  divisions  of  the  investigation,  was  399,  dis- 
tributed as  follows : 

Occupations.  Wage  Groups. 

Professional     27  (i)  51 

Clerical    143  (2)  185 

Sales     49  (3)  102 

Factory    88  (4)  36 

Waitresses     64  (5)  25 

Kitchen    18 

Total     399  Total     399 

The  general  summaries  on  pages  16  and  17  bring  together  the 
chief  results  of  the  study  of  expenditures. 

The  expenditures  of  the  $9  to  $11  wage  group  may  be  taken 
as  representing  the  minimum  living  wage.  This  class  stands  mid- 
way in  the  wage  scale  and  represents  roughly  the  average  of  all 
women  workers  covered  by  the  investigation.  It  appears,  moreover, 
that  the  average  income  and  the  average  expenditures  of  this  class 
approximately  balance  each  other,  whereas  in  the  two  classes  stand- 
ing lower  in  the  scale  there  is  a  deficit  of  income  below  expendi- 
tures, and  in  the  two  classes  standing  higher  in  the  scale  a  surplus  of 
income  over  expenditures  according  to  the  tabulated  returns.  This 
fact  indicates  that  the  income  first  becomes  adequate  to  meet  expen- 
ditures when  this  wage  group  is  reached. 

There  are  also  other  indications  that  the  expenditures  of  this 
class  represent  a  fair  minimum  standard  of  decency  and  comfort. 
In  the  case  of  food  expenditures,  in  the  second  wage  group  as  com- 

^Employees  in  dressmaking  and  tailoring  establishments  are  included  in  the 
group  of  factory  workers.  For  a  fuller  discussion  of  income  and  expenditures  of 
professional  women  see  Susan  M.  Kingsbury,  Report  of  a  Committee  on  Economic 
EflBciency  of  College  Women.  Association  of  Collegiate  Alumnse  Magazine,  February, 
1910. 


10  The  Living;  Wage  of  JFoiucn  JJ^orkcrs 

pared  with  the  first  there  is  a  large  increase  in  the  amount,  but  a 
fall  in  tlie  percentage.  The  percentage  is  still  unduly  high,  how- 
ever, being  over  46.  The  diflference  between  the  second  group  and 
the  third  group,  or  the  middle  class,  is  much  less  marked ;  the  amount 
increases  only  slightly  and  the  percentage  drops  to  about  35.  As 
the  investigator  remarks :  'Tt  appears  that  the  increase  of  income 
up  to  $8  is  used  to  provide  a  better  dietary.  The  slighter  increase 
both  in  regular  board  and  extra  food  in  the  next  higher  division 
would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  most  pressing  needs  in  these  direc- 
tions are  met  at  about  a  $9  wage."  The  figures  of  expenditure  for 
rent  show  a  similar  tendency.  There  is  a  large  increase  in  the 
amount  in  the  second  group  as  compared  with  the  first,  while  the 
percentage  remains  practically  the  same.  The  latter  is  still  unduly 
high,  slightly  above  20  per  cent.  In  the  third  group,  however,  the 
amount  is  only  slightly  larger  than  in  the  second  and  the  percent- 
age drops  to  about  15.  This  indicates,  as  the  investigator  points 
out,  that  with  the  $9  to  $12  wage  the  essential  decencies  and  com- 
forts of  living  conditions  have  been  achieved. 

The  expenditures  for  clothing  are  not  so  clear  in  their  indi- 
cations with  respect  to  the  position  of  the  third  group,  as  are  the 
expenditures  for  food  and  rent.  In  the  case  of  both  the  latter,  there 
is  a  sharp  increase  in  the  amount  from  the  first  to  the  second  group, 
while  the  percentage  remains  about  the  same,  or  falls  slightly;  then 
there  is  a  small  advance  in  the  amount  from  the  second  to  the  third 
group,  while  the  percentage  declines  notably.  In  the  case  of  cloth- 
ing, however,  the  amount  increases  more  from  the  second  to  the 
third  group  than  from  the  first  to  the  second  group,  w^hile  the  per- 
centage in  the  third  group  is  not  appreciably  lower  than  in  the  sec- 
ond. In  this  case  the  fourth  group  shows  conditions  more  analo- 
gous to  those  of  the  third  group  in  the  case  of  food  and  rent.  That 
is  to  say,  there  is  a  marked  increase  in  the  amount  up  to  this  point 
and  a  small  increase  thereafter,  with  a  pronounced  fall  of  the  per- 
centage. On  the  whole,  however,  as  the  average  amount  of  the 
expenditure  for  clothing  by  the  third  group  comes  closest  to  the 
general  average  of  approximately  $1.50  per  week,  it  seems  reas- 
onable to  take  the  expenditure  of  this  class  as  representing  the 
living  wage  standard. 

The  expenditure  for  health  increases  greatly  in  amount  until  the 
third  group  is  reached ;  then  it  remains  practically  stationary  in  the 


Introduction  H 

fourth  group.  The  percentage  at  the  same  time  declines  only 
slightly  from  the  first  to  the  second  group,  but  very  noticeably  from 
the  second  to  the  third  group,  and  thereafter  falls  sharply.  It 
appears,  also,  that  the  amount  hardly  increases  at  all  for  the  fourth 
group,  and  decreases  finally  for  the  fifth.  The  figures  indicate  that 
the  need  of  medical  treatment  is  met  more  adequately  as  the  wage 
level  of  the  third  group  is  reached.  The  expenditure  of  this  group 
appears  to  represent  the  standard  required  for  maintenance  of 
health  and  efficiency. 

The  figures  for  savings  also  point  to  the  third  group  as  repre- 
senting the  living  wage  standard.  The  amount  of  savings  first 
becomes  an  appreciable  factor  in  the  third  group,  where  it  exceeds 
$30  per  year.  In  the  first  two  groups  the  savings  amount  only  to 
a  few  dollars  annually.  The  amount  increases  greatly  in  the  fourth 
and  fifth  groups.  It  thus  appears  that  the  earnings  for  the  third 
group  first  afford  some  margin  for  savings. 

The  statistics  for  miscellaneous  expenditures  need  not  be  con- 
sidered in  determining  the  question  under  consideration.  The 
figures  in  the  table  are  somewhat  uncertain  on  account  of  difficulties 
in  classification  mentioned  in  the  text.  They  do  not  warrant  any 
conclusions  concerning  the  relation  of  expenditures  to  the  wage 
scale. 

An  examination  of  the  movement  of  expenditures  with  increas- 
ing incomes  clearly  indicates  the  third  group  as  representing  the 
living  wage.    The  expenditures  of  the  third  group  are  as  follows : 

Annual  Expenditures  Representing  Living  Wage. 

Food     $169.70 

Rent     74.81 

Clothing    88.99 

Health     22.09 

Savings     31.63 

Miscellaneous 1 17.06 

Total     $504.28 

It  appears  accordingly  that  annual  earnings  of  approximately 
$500  a  year,  or  $10  a  week,  may  be  taken  as  the  amount  of  a  living 
wage  for  women  workers  in  Boston.    The  investigation  shows  clearly 


12  The  Liz'iiig  JJ'a^c  of  U'oiiioi  Workers 

that  on  the  whole  it  is  not  possible  for  a  self-dependent  woman  to 
live  on  less  than  this  amount  in  decent  comfort  with  any  margin 
for  saving. 

It  is  interesting  to  trace  through  the  table  of  average  annual 
expenditures  by  wage  groups  the  effect  of  increase  of  earnings  upon 
expenditures  in  general  and  upon  the  several  items  of  expenditure 
in  particular.  In  the  case  of  food,  rent  and  clothing  the  amounts 
expended  all  increase,  while  the  percentages  of  income  represented 
by  the  amounts  all  decrease.  There  is  absolutely  no  exception  to 
this  rule.  The  amount  expended  for  health  increases  up  to  the 
highest  wage  group,  when  it  declines,  the  percentage  meanwhile 
falling  steadily.  The  amount  of  saving  is  slightly  less  in  the  second 
than  in  the  first  group,  but  thereafter  it  increases  notably,  while 
the  percentage  also  increases.  The  figures  for  miscellaneous  ex- 
penditures show  no  regular  tendency,  although  the  percentage  for 
the  fifth  group  is  considerably  lower  than  that  for  the  first. 

The  movement  of  the  expenditures  of  working  women,  as 
show^n  by  this  table,  does  not  conform  in  general  to  the  well-known 
law  of  the  growth  of  expenditures  formulated  by  Dr.  Ernst  Engel, 
former  Chief  of  the  Royal  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Prussia.  This 
law  embodies  four  propositions,  as  follows:  (i)  The  percentage  of 
expenditure  for  food  diminishes  as  the  size  of  the  income  increases ; 
(2)  the  percentage  for  clothing  is  approximately  the  same  what- 
ever the  income;  (3)  the  percentages  for  rent  and  for  fuel  and 
light  are  invariably  the  same  whatever  the  income ;  (4)  the  per- 
centage for  sundries  becomes  larger  as  the  income  increases. 

The  first  proposition  alone  holds  true  of  working  women's  ex- 
penditures as  determined  in  this  investigation.  Other  tendencies 
here  appear  to  be  directly  opposed  to  the  propositions  of  Engel's 
law.  The  percentages  for  clothing  and  rent  decline  greatly  as  the 
income  becomes  larger,  and  the  expenditure  for  sundries  shows  a 
slightly  downward  tendency. 

Comparison  of  the  expenditures  of  women  workers  with  those 
of  family  units,  as  shown  in  other  investigations,  reveals  some 
significant  facts.  The  tables  on  page  18  afford  a  basis  for  such 
comparison.^ 

^For  a  general  discussion  of  family  expenditures,  see  "The  Standard  of  Living" 
by  Frank  Hatch  Streightoff,  1911. 


Introduction  13 

Comparison  of  the  percentages  in  these  tables  discloses  a  gen- 
eral similarity  as  regards  the  chief  items  of  expenditure.  All  the 
tables  show  a  considerable  increase  in  the  case  of  clothing  and  sun- 
dries. The  expenditure  for  rent  does  not  change  appreciably  in 
the  first  table,  but  falls  in  the  others.  In  the  case  of  the  first  two 
tables  the  expenditure  for  food  decreases  notably  as  the  income 
increases. 

When  the  percentages  of  family  expenditures  are  compared 
with  the  percentages  of  working  women's  expenditures  some  note- 
worthy differences  appear.  The  percentage  of  expenditure  for  food 
is  much  higher  for  the  low-wage  groups  of  women  workers  than  it 
is  for  the  small-income  classes  of  families.  The  same  is  true  of 
the  expenditures  for  rent.  The  higher  rates  of  expenditure  for 
food  and  rent  among  women  workers  are  doubtless  to  be  explained 
by  the  fact  that  it  is  more  difficult  and  expensive  for  a  single 
woman  to  provide  for  herself  table  board  and  lodging  accommoda- 
tions than  it  is  for  a  single  man  or  for  a  family.  The  problem  of 
board  and  lodging  is  a  much  more  serious  one  for  self-dependent 
women  than  for  working  men  and  families.  Another  striking 
feature  of  the  expenditures  of  women  workers,  as  contrasted  with 
family  budgets,  is  the  extremely  high  percentage  for  clothing. 
This  phenomenon  again  is  readily  understood.  Women  workers 
are  obliged  to  spend  proportionately  more  for  clothes  than  men  or 
families.  The  wardrobe  is  necessarily  a  large  item  in  the  working 
girl's  budget. 

When  the  changes  in  percentages  of  expenditures  with  advanc- 
ing incomes  are  compared  two  differences  stand  out  conspicuously. 
In  the  first  place,  the  fall  in  the  case  of  both  food  and  rent  is  much 
greater  for  women  workers  than  for  families.  As  the  necessary 
outlay  for  food  and  rent  is  a  much  heavier  drain  on  the  small 
incomes  in  the  case  of  women  workers  than  in  the  case  of  families, 
so  the  reduction  of  the  percentages  of  expenditure  for  these  pur- 
poses as  earnings  increase  is  more  marked  for  women  workers.  In 
the  second  place,  the  percentages  for  clothing  and  sundries  decrease 
in  the  case  of  women  workers,  while  they  increase  for  families. 
Here,  again,  the  dift'erence  is  doubtless  due  to  the  fact  that  the  cost 
of  clothing  is  of  necessity  disproportionately  high  for  the  woman  on 
low  wages.  On  the  other  hand,  the  well-paid  women  of  the  pro- 
fessional class  represented  in  the  highest  wage  group  are,  as  a  rule, 
economical  and  resourceful  in  the  matters  of  clothing  and  sundries 


14  The  Living  Wage  of  JVomcn  Workers 

This  study  has  revealed  many  significant  features  of  methods 
of  expenditure  which  cannot  be  touched  upon  in  this  introductory 
survey.  In  the  field  of  food  expenditure  interesting  details  relate 
to  the  efforts  made  by  the  women  of  low  wages  to  cope  with  this 
difficult  problem.  The  devices  consist  mainly  in  the  practice  of 
cooking  at  home,  and  the  tendency  to  take  work  that  provides  meals 
in  part  payment  for  services.  The  extent  to  which  these  practices 
prevail  is  shown  by  the  tables  and  analyses  in  the  chapter  on  food. 
The  problem  of  rent  is  also  a  most  difficult  one  for  the  low-paid 
working  woman.  The  economies  practiced  in  this  field  consist  in 
taking  roominates  in  order  to  reduce  rent  and  in  sacrificing  the 
somewhat  expensive  advantages  of  heat  and  sunlight  in  the  living 
quarters. 

With  reference  to  clothing,  the  investigator  shows  clearly  the 
commercial  necessity  of  dressing  well  as  a  means  of  securing  and 
retaining  employment.  The  standard  of  expenditure  here  is  found 
to  be  necessarily  variable.  The  requirements  of  occupation  in  re- 
spect to  dress  vary  widely  for  the  different  classes,  and  the  reaction 
against  the  monotony  of  employment,  which  naturally  encourages 
extravagance  in  dress  and  amusement,  is  far  greater  in  some  cases 
than  in  others.  The  cost  of  clothing  depends  to  a  great  extent  on 
individual  taste  and  ingenuity.  Economy  is  sought  in  this  field 
through  home  sewing  and  bargain  hunts.  Installment  buying  also 
comes  into  play  as  a  method  of  procuring  a  season's  outfit  at  one 
time.  This  practice  is  generally  disliked  and  condemned,  but  it  is 
follow^ed  largely  as  a  matter  of  necessity. 

The  statistics  of  expenditure  for  health  bring  out  the  tendency 
of  such  expenditure  to  increase  in  amount  as  the  income  becomes 
larger.  It  thus  appears  that  the  conservation  of  health  must  be 
neglected  largely  by  the  low-paid  women  workers.  In  the  chapter 
on  Savings  and  Debts  the  fact  is  brought  out  that  the  amount  of 
saving  is  practically  nil  in  the  low-wage  groups,  and  that  really 
permanent  saving  hardly  begins  to  an  appreciable  extent  before  the 
highest  group.  It  appears  further  that  the  only  form  of  permanent 
saving  is  insurance.  Savings  that  are  made  in  other  ways  are 
usually  drawn  upon  freely  to  meet  special  demands  or  emergencies. 
An  impressive  detail  in  the  field  of  miscellaneous  expenditures  is 
the  large  amount  of  benevolence  shown  by  \vorking  women.  Indeed, 
it  appears  that  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  wage  groups,  with  earnings 


Introduction  15 

above  the  average  level,  the  amount  spent  for  others  under  the  head 
of  miscellaneous  expenditures  is  considerably  larger  than  the 
amount  spent  for  self. 

The  statistical  picture  of  the  condition  of  the  women  workers 
in  one  large  city  presented  in  this  volume,  incomplete  as  it  may  be 
in  many  respects,  is,  on  the  whole,  a  valuable  contribution  to 
practical  sociology.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  one  effect  of  this  inves- 
tigation may  be  to  stimulate  similar  studies  in  other  cities.  There 
are  many  questions  of  importance  relating  to  the  living  conditions 
of  working  women  to  which  answers  can  be  furnished  only  by  such 
detailed  study  of  facts.  In  particular,  an  investigation  that  would 
show  the  proportion  of  women  workers  receiving  less  than  a  living 
wage  and  the  conditions  in  this  submerged  group  would  have  the 
greatest  value. 

F.  Spencer  Baldwin, 
Professor  of  Economics,  Boston  University. 


i6 


The  Living  Wage  of  Women  Workers 


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i8 


The  Lii'iit^  JJ'a^^c  of  Women  Workers 


TABLE  3.' — Percentages  of  Expenditures  of  Normal  Families  in 
THE  United  States. 


Income. 


Food. 


$2oo-$3oo 47-33 

400-  500 I  46.  88 


600-  700 . 

800-  900 .  .  . 
1000-  1 100 .  . 
1200  or  over. 


43-48 
41.37 
38-79 
36.45 


Rent. 


18. 
18. 
18. 
17- 
17' 
17- 


Clothing, 


.02 

8.66 

6. 

-57 
.48 

11-39 
12.88 

5- 
4. 

.07 

13-57 

3- 

■53 

15.06 

3- 

.40 

15-72 

3- 

Fuel. 


1.09 

:.54 

.65 
•87 

;-77 
;.85 


Light. 


Sundries. 


18.77 
16.  50 

19-39 
23.02 
23.69 
25.40 


TABLE  4.2 — Percentages  of  Expenditures  op  Families  in  New 

York  City. 


Income. 


$200-$400 . , 
400-  500 . , 
600-  700 . , 
800-   900 . , 

1000-    1200. 

1200-    1500. 


Food. 

Rent. 

44.2 

30.5 

44.4 

25.9 

45-5 

21.7 

45.8 

18.6 

43-6 

17-3 

39. 5 

18.0 

Clothing. 


7.3 

9-3 

9.0 

10.3 

10.8 

II. 3 


Fuel 

and 
Light. 


Insur- 
ance. 


•5 

4- 

.  2 

4- 

-7 

4- 

-4 

3- 

-5 

3- 

-S 

3- 

Sundries. 


6.7 

9-7 
13-S 
16.8 
20.  2 
23.0 


TABLE  5.3 — Percentages  of  Expenditures  of  Families  in  New  York 

City. 


Income. 


$400-$5oo 

600-    700 

800-    900 

looo-i 100 

1200-1300 


Food 

Rent. 

Clothing, 

Fuel 

and 

Light. 

40.8 

26.8 

13.0 

5-6 

44-6 

23.6 

12.  9 

5-8 

44-3 

20.  7 

14.0 

5-0 

44-7 

18. 1 

15-5 

4.5 

45-9 

19.8 

15.2 

3-8 

Sundries. 


6.9 

7.3 
9.1 

II. 4 

10.  5 


TABLE  6.* — Percentages  of  Expenditures  of  Workingmen's  Families 

in  Massachusetts. 


Income. 


Less  than  $450 
$45o-§6oo 

600-  750 

750-1200 

1200  and  over. 


Food. 


56.00 
54 


Rent. 


"21 .96 

17-54 

17.27 

II  .03 

6.80 


Clothing. 


Fuel 

and 
Light. 


9-iS 
II . 69 
11.68 
14.66 
14.  62 


Siindriesi 


4.98 
"•97 
00 

74 
22 


^Eighteenth  Annual  Report,  United  States  Commissioner  of  Labor,  on  the  Cost 
of  Living  and  Retail  Prices  of  Food,  1903,  p.  101. 
=L.  B.  More,  "Wage-Earners'  Budgets,"  p.  55. 
»R.  C.  Chapin,  "Standard  of  Living  in  New  York,"  p.  70. 
'Report  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor,  1901,  pp.  296-297. 


CHAPTER  II 

HOMES    AND   LODGINGS 

From  suites  in  attractive  apartment  houses  to  dingy  tenements, 
and  from  sunshiny  rooms  in  the  suburbs  to  dark  attics  or  beds 
behind  screens  in  a  working  girls'  dormitory,  evening  visits  to  girls 
at  home  take  the  visitor  through  a  wide  range  in  the  condi- 
tions of  living,  which  depends  not  alone  on  the  wages  earned,  but 
quite  as  much  on  standards  of  living,  both  inherited  and  acquired. 

In  an  apartment  hotel  in  a  suburb  lives  a  girl  whose  income 
is  $io  a  week.  She  has  a  tiny  suite,  consisting  of  a  little  reception 
hall,  bath  and  one  room.  The  building  is  an  especially  attractive 
one  of  its  kind,  with  air  space  about  it.  The  room  is  a  corner  one 
on  the  top  floor,  with  side  views,  sunshine  and  a  freshness  of  paint 
and  paper,  which  is  a  real  satisfaction  compared  with  the  dingy  walls 
and  dusty  furniture  of  a  cheap  lodging.  The  little  bathroom  is 
spotless  with  white  tiled  floor  and  walls  and  porcelain  tub  and 
basins.  The  furniture  is  cheap,  but  has  been  collected  by  dint  of 
much  self-denial  and  study  of  values  and  needs.  A  low  bookcase, 
made  by  a  carpenter,  a  table  desk  doing  double  duty,  an  easy  chair 
and  a  couch,  with  a  couple  of  rugs  and  a  few  pictures  make  the 
place  a  real  bit  of  home.  Rent  takes  one-half  the  income  of  the 
occupant  and  makes  a  very  rigid  curtailment  of  food  necessary. 
She  meets  the  necessity  by  doing  her  own  cooking  on  an  oil  stove. 
A  few  dishes  in  a  little  cupboard,  a  saucepan  or  two,  a  teakettle, 
and  a  cold  air-box  in  a  window,  seem  all  that  is  necessary.  The 
sense  of  possession  and  independence  in  her  home  is  so  valuable 
that  she  considers  it  worth  the  sacrifice  of  comforts  which  are  often 
thought  to  be  indispensable. 

This  longing  for  a  home,  however  modest  and  circumscribed, 
and  sometimes  overexpensive,  is  almost  universal.  Its  recognition 
is  essential  to  a  sympathetic  understanding  of  the  wage-earning 
woman.  Sometimes  it  is  only  a  longing  and  a  dream  of  the  future; 
sometimes  it  is  a  reality,  purchased  at  a  price;  and  sometimes  the 
story  is  one  of  every  conceivable  struggle,  with  failure  and  lodgings 
at  the  end.  And  the  price  is  not  always  paid  with  money  alone,  but 
often  with  health. 

(r9) 


20  The  Living  Wage  of  Women  Workers 

Two  sisters  starting  to  earn  their  living  at  twelve  and 
thirteen  years  of  age,  about  fifteen  years  ago,  spent  much 
of  the  strength  that  should  have  gone  into  winning  an  increase 
of  wages  in  struggling  to  keep  the  little  tenement  home  when  the 
death  of  their  mother  and  a  drunken  father  threw  them  on  the 
world  with  only  each  other  for  support.  "I  worked,"  said  Rose, 
"from  eight  in  the  morning  to  ten  at  night,  and  eleven  on  Satur- 
days, and  every  week  my  sister  and  I  had  brought  our  envelopes 
home  unopened  to  mother.  The  first  raise  I  had  after  she  died — • 
a  raise  from  $6  to  $7 — I  wanted  to  keep.  All  the  girls  had  money 
of  their  own,  and  at  first  I  really  made  up  my  mind  to  hold  back 
that  extra  dollar.  It  was  my  own  money  and  I  had  earned  it.  But 
when  I  went  into  the  house  the  first  thing  I  knew  I  gave  the 
envelope  unopened  to  my  sister.  One  time  my  sister  was  ofif  on 
her  vacation — just  a  week,  the  first  she  had  had  for  years — and  I 
fell  ill.  I  could  hardly  crawl  around  for  my  food,  but  I  wouldn't 
send  for  her  because  she  needed  that  one  little  week  in  the  country, 
and  so  I  got  along  somehow  until  she  came  back.  We  were  advised 
to  take  another  girl  in  to  help  us  pay  expenses  and  do  our  work. 
So  we  rented  a  little  side  room  for  a  dollar  and  a  half  a  week. 
But  the  girl  who  had  it  squeezed  us  hard.  In  a  week  the  gas  bill 
jumped  fifty  cents.  She  would  keep  the  coal  stove  going  and  do 
a  big  washing  and  all  her  cooking.  I  didn't  know  how  to  argue  with 
her,  and  we  had  to  get  rid  of  her.  But  we  found  it  necessary  to 
have  some  one  to  start  the  fire  and  get  dinner  at  night.  Then  we 
heard  of  an  old  woman  out  in  Roxbury  with  a  grandchild.  I  went 
out  to  see  her,  and  she  agreed  to  leave  the  grandchild  with  a  friend 
and  come  and  live  with  us.  She  worked  on  my  sympathies  so  that 
I  offered  her  a  little  bit  of  money  a  week.  But  when  she  came  she 
had  two  cats  and  some  birds  and  no  end  of  boxes.  She  used  up  all 
the  wood  and  coal,  keeping  a  roaring  fire  all  day.  Soon  we  were 
feeding  not  only  all  her  animals  and  herself,  but  her  grandchild  as 
well.  That  ran  us  into  debt,  and  we  decided  that  we  should  have 
to  take  a  room  and  give  up  housekeeping,  because  our  long  working 
hours  made  us  too  tired  at  night  to  do  all  our  work  and  keep  house 
as  well." 

Experiences  like  this  are  common.  Few  working  women,  espe- 
cially older  women  who  have  settled  down  "into  harness"  and  expect 
to  earn  their  living  all  their  lives,  drop  into  lodging  houses  without 


Homes  and  Lodgings  21 

a  struggle  for  something  better.  Oftentimes  a  woman  who  is  a 
clever  manager  is  able  to  achieve  a  comfortable  little  home  without 
too  great  an  expenditure  of  energy  or  money. 

The  Smith  sisters  are  happy  and  very  proud  of  their  "home." 
It  consists  of  two  rooms  reached  by  a  creepy  elevator  in  a  big  for- 
lorn office  building,  but  that  makes  no  difference  to  the  girls,  for  it 
is  high,  sunny  and  their  own.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  sun  and  the 
air  are  confined  to  the  outer  room,  for  the  inner  apartment,  which 
opens  into  the  other  by  large  double  doors,  has  no  windows  what- 
ever. Here  they  keep  their  kitchen  supplies,  a  double-burner  gas 
stove  on  a  table,  a  cupboard,  a  refrigerator,  an  ironing  board,  two 
bureaus  and  one  bed.  But  they  explain  that  when  the  double  doors 
are  open  at  night  the  room  gets  plenty  of  air.  A  bathroom  in  a  pri- 
vate hall  is  shared  by  one  other  suite.  They  are  almost  jubilant  in 
their  pride  in  their  home.  By  careful  planning  it  costs  these  two  girls 
less  than  four  dollars  a  week  apiece  for  all  of  their  living  expenses, 
excepting  clothes  and  incidentals.  The  rent  of  the  suite  is  about 
two  dollars  apiece  a  week.  They  lay  this  amount  aside  every  pay- 
day toward  the  regular  monthly  rent,  with  an  extra  dollar  apiece  for 
the  last  three  days.  The  furniture  required  quite  an  outlay  at  first. 
The  beds  cost  $9.75  apiece,  and  the  rugs  in  the  living  room  $22.50. 
The  furniture  includes  a  center  reading  table,  a  desk,  a  bookcase, 
the  two  beds,  several  chairs  and  a  piano.  The  latter,  which  is  an 
inheritance,  is  a  joy  and  pride  as  well  as  the  chief  recreation  of 
their  lives.  They  apparently  enjoy  doing  their  own  cooking,  wash- 
ing, ironing  and  cleaning,  but  the  younger  sister,  who  works  in  a 
store,  has  little  of  it  to  do.  Miss  Smith  is  a  manicurist  and  hair- 
dresser, whose  business  hours  are  irregular,  since  she  must  meet 
appointments  at  the  homes  of  her  customers.  She  makes  very  good 
wages  and  has  practical  independence  in  the  matter  of  hours,  so  the 
housekeeping  does  not  seem  too  hard  to  her. 

Another  little  family  of  four  sisters  on  low  wages  solve  the 
problem  in  their  North  End  tenement  through  their  more  or  less 
invalided  older  sister,  who  cannot  take  a  position,  but  does  do  the 
household  work  and  even  much  of  the  dressmaking. 

Oftentimes  a  group  of  friends  gQt  together  and  rent  a  suite, 
furnish  it  as  best  they  can  and  share  the  rent.  The  visitor  found 
two  or  three  instances  in  which  a  group  rented  a  little  cottage  at 
some  near-by  seashore  or  country  place  for  the  summer,  thus  get- 


22  The  Living  Wage  of  U'ojuoi  Workers 

ting  more  of  an  outing  than  the  ordinary  two  weeks'  vacation. 
This  plan  of  co-operative  householding  works  very  well  finan- 
cially, even  with  the  purchase  of  furniture  and  the  payment  of  rent 
and  gas  bills,  and  often  fuel  as  well.  It  is  practically  always  cheaper, 
as  well  as  very  much  more  independent  than  living  in  lodgings.  One 
great  objection  is  that  the  burden  of  housekeeping  is  too  hard  for 
girls  who  are  tired  after  a  day's  work  and  in  need  of  recreation 
instead  of  more  work.  There  is  also  the  difficulty  of  finding  groups 
who,  without  the  anchor  of  family  ties  to  hold  them,  can  live  to- 
gether in  harmony.  Persons  with  experience  in  co-operative  living 
all  tell  the  same  tale  of  shipwreck  upon  the  rock  of  uncongeniality. 
In  some  cases,  however,  the  right  combinations  have  gotten  together 
and  co-operative  living  has  proved  thoroughly  successful. 

In  general,  the  family  group  solution  of  living  seems  to  be 
possible  in  the  case  of  women  earning  fairly  good  salaries  who  are 
able  to  afford  quarters  sufficiently  roomy  to  give  each  member  some 
corner  of  her  own,  and  to  allow,  too,  a  certain  amount  of  leeway 
in  the  matter  of  expenses  for  light,  fuel,  cleaning,  etc.  In  such 
cases  the  burden  has  not  proved  too  heavy  and  the  comforts  of 
living  have  reduced  other  expenditures  to  a  very  appreciable  extent. 
This  reduction  is  effected  chiefly  in  the  matter  of  doctor's  bills  and 
in  expenditure  for  recreation.  More  than  one  group  finds  its  open 
fire  and  its  piano,  the  rent  of  which  divides  up  into  comparatively 
small  amounts  for  the  individual,  more  attractive  and  more  restful 
than  evening  theaters  or  Sunday  trips  into  the  country.  It  is  socia- 
bility that  the  human  being  needs,  and  the  lack  of  it  drives  the 
isolated  habitant  of  the  lodging  house  to  the  beaches  and  theaters. 
But,  in  general,  the  woman  who  can  live  happily  in  this  way  is  the 
woman  earning  enough  to  live  comfortably  anywhere ;  and,  usually, 
of  course,  the  woman  who  is  clever  enough  to  earn  good  wages  is 
clever  enough  to  plan  the  details  of  co-operative  living  without 
drawing  too  heavily  on  her  energies. 

The  case  of  the  woman  in  lodgings  is  not,  certainly  at  first 
view,  so  cheering.  In  the  city,  conditions  make  the  life  less  pro- 
tected and  more  difficult  in  very  many  ways.  To  the  young  girl 
coming  to  work  for  the  first  time  the  city  seems  indeed  "a  wilder- 
ness." If  she  knows  of  a  trustworthy  room  registry  she  can  find 
a  room  that  has  been  inspected  and  is  known  to  be  "respectable." 
If  she  knows  of  no  such  registry  she  very  often  takes  refuge  in  one 


Homes  and  Lodgings  23 

of  the  Young  Women's  Christian  Association  buildings,  FrankHn 
Square  House,  or  Brooke  House.^ 

The  writer  has  come  upon  very  few  cases  in  which  girls  have 
met  with  unpleasant  experiences  in  looking  for  rooms.  Stories 
of  such  are  common,  but  first  hand  accounts  are  rare.  Most  experi- 
ences of  an  unpleasant  nature  one  learns  at  third  or  fourth  hand, 
seldom  directly.  However,  the  existence  of  such  a  possibility  is 
an  ever-present  anxiety  to  the  girl  seeking  rooms. 

Albert  Wolfe,  in  his  study  of  lodging  houses  of  the  South 
End,  gives  a  comprehensive  and  searching  view  of  the  lodging 
house  problem.  The  dangers  to  unprotected  girls,  as  well  as  the 
temptations  to  seasoned  lodgers  are  seen  to  be  very  real  and  far- 
reaching  in  their  effects.  That  the  present  investigator  has  not  met 
with  this  problem  may  be  explained  in  several  ways  still  consistent 
with  the  existence  of  the  evil.  First,  of  course,  is  the  fact  that  in 
making  acquaintances  among  the  girls  this  condition  would  be  the 
last  to  reveal  itself  so  long  as  concealment  was  possible.  But  the 
real  explanation  may  lie  in  the  sources  from  which  the  investigator 
drew  her  material.  As  stated  in  the  introductory  chapter,  this  was 
obtained  through  personal  acquaintance  with  girls  in  touch  with 
various  clubs  and  social  organizations.  The  list  was  extended  by 
means  of  names  given  by  this  nucleus,  and  so  the  circle  grew.  There- 
fore, while  our  material  was  literally  chosen  "at  random"  in  the 
matter  of  wages,  occupations  and  general  living  conditions,  it  may  be 
said  to  have  been  selected  from  the  viewpoint  of  character.  The 
majority  of  the  girls  were  visited  several  times  each,  so  that  the 
character  of  the  houses  in  which  they  lived  was  known,  and  was 
invariably  respectable.  Through  the  State  Free  Employment 
Bureau  any  one  who  was  willing  to  talk  became  material.  And  here, 
indeed,  in  several  cases  there  were  discrepancies  in  statement  which 
seemed  suspicious.  In  these  cases  however,  the  rooms  were  not 
visited,  and  so  no  suspicion  could  be  verified  or  discredited.  In 
two  or  three  instances  pathetic  little  stories  came  from  girls  evi- 
dently too  ignorant  to  protect  themselves  or  too  miserable  to  care  to 
conceal  their  plight ;  but  they  were  not  stories  that  dealt  with  lodging 
house  life. 

Each  quarter  of  the  city  has  lodging  houses  typical  of  itself  in 
the  matter  of  comfort.     The  proximity  of  the  South  End  to  the 

'  Subsidized    boarding^  houses. 


24  The  Liz'iiig  Jl'agc  of  iroiicii  Workers 

business  section  makes  it  a  desirable  place  of  residence  for  working 
girls.  The  elevated  and  the  many  lines  of  surface  cars  bring  it  into 
better  connection  with  all  parts  of  the  city  than  any  other  section, 
and  the  four  long  streets — Tremont,  Washington,  Shawmut  and 
Columbus  Avenues — make  all  parts  of  it  a  fairly  direct  walk  from 
the  business  centers  of  the  city.  These  long  streets  are  the  canals 
of  business.  They  are  lined  with  stores  of  all  varieties,  but  of  uni- 
formly cheap  quality.  The  streets  of  red  brick  lodging  houses  run 
at  right  angles  to  these.  The  uniformity  of  these  cross  streets  is 
varied  occasionally  by  a  "square"  or  "park,"  in  which  the  street 
widens  for  a  block  and  the  houses  draw  back  on  either  side  from  a 
bit  of  lawn  with  fine  old  elms  and  perhaps  a  fountain.  The  trees 
and  the  heavy  ropes  of  wistaria  vines,  which  have  twisted  them- 
selves through  the  elaborate  wrought-iron  work  of  the  balconies  on 
the  old  mansions,  were  planted  in  the  days  of  the  South  End's  pros- 
perity, and  have  reached  their  beauty  only  in  the  days  of  its  decay. 

The  old  South  End  houses  of  red  brick  and  wrought-iron 
were  once  the  stately  and  comfortable  homes  of  the  prosperous  of 
the  city.  Now,  still  stately,  they  have  fallen  into  the  dinginess  and 
lack  of  repair  which  mark  the  district  as  one  over  which  not  the 
householder,  but  the  landlady,  holds  sway.  The  massive  front  doors 
with  shining  bellpulls,  nameplates  and  handles  open  into  halls 
reminiscent  of  the  formal  dignity  of  the  seventies.  Long  curving 
staircases  and  panellings  of  fine  woods  lead  up  toward  large 
rooms,  the  spacious  front  and  back  parlors  of  the  period,  with 
curvdng  fronts  and  beautifully  carved  marble  fireplaces  and  ornate 
chandeliers.  Sometimes  the  great  mirrors,  seeming  to  double  the 
size  of  these  lofty  rooms,  are  still  in  place  over  the  mantel,  but 
more  often  all  vestiges  of  former  grandeur,  excepting  the  lines  of 
the  room  itself  and  the  heavy  panelled  doors  and  wainscots  have 
long  since  taken  their  way  after  their  onetime  owners  and  left  the 
shell  of  prosperity  with  only  shabby  meagreness  and  decay  within. 

These  large  rooms — "square"  rooms  as  they  are  called  in  distinc- 
tion from  the  hall  bed  rooms  or  "side"  rooms — can  be  rented  some 
times  for  $3,  $3.50  or  $4  per  week,  and  are  very  comfortable.  The 
"square"  rooms  on  the  upper  floor,  designed  by  the  owners  as  bed- 
rooms, usually  have  a  set  basin  with  hot  and  cold  water  built  into  a 
niche  in  the  wall.  As  a  rule,  they  are  comfortably  furnished,  and 
the  lodger  has  easy  access  to  an  old-fashioned  bathroom.     Many 


Homes  and  Lodgings  25 

of  these  bathrooms  still  have  tin  tubs  and  closed  plumbing;  they 
are  often  odorous,  and  are  always  shared  by  as  many  people  as  the 
house  contains.  This  is  synonomous  with  as  many  as  it  will  hold, 
for  the  South  End  landlady  is  getting  a  living,  not  supplementing 
an  income,  by  her  house,  and  fills  it  to  its  limit,  which  is  often 
fifteen  or  more  lodgers. 

The  hall  bedrooms  are  cheaper,  and  often,  on  the  upper  floors, 
unheated.  The  fifth  floor,  or  attic,  bedrooms,  which  are  either 
dormer-windowed  or  in  the  mansard  roof  of  the  house,  are  high  and 
cold  and  cheap — sometimes  as  low  as  one  dollar  or  seventy-five  cents 
per  week.  These  rooms,  tiny  and  uncomfortable  as  they  are,  are 
in  demand  by  women  whose  wages  will  not  permit  of  more 
commodious  quarters. 

For  the  same  reason — that  of  making  it  pay — the  South  End 
lodging  house  boasts  no  parlor  for  the  lodger.  The  liberty  of  each 
is  confined  to  her  room,  or  her  share  of  her  room.  This  must  neces- 
sarily be  her  living,  reception  and  sleeping  room,  sometimes  dining 
room  and  kitchen  as  well.  This  combination,  of  course,  leads  the 
way  to  many  of  the  dangers  which  beset  the  path  of  the  girl  living 
by  herself.  It  is  quite  the  usual  custom  to  receive  one's  callers  of 
both  sexes  in  one's  room,  and  this  custom  is  by  no  means  confined  to 
the  South  End  or  to  the  lodging  house  without  a  parlor.  It  is  true 
in  general  of  those  who  are  living  in  lodgings  and  not  as  one  of  a 
family.  It  is  probably  true  that  the  lack  of  a  parlor  rather  enforces 
the  custom,  and  it  is  certainly  true  that  the  average  landlady  cannot 
afiford  to  provide  a  reception  room. 

The  disastrous  story  of  one  South  End  landlady  tells  her  side 
of  the  case,  "I  saved  up  $1000  and  decided  to  invest  my  savings  in 
a  lodging,"  she  says.  "My  furniture  cost  me  $900,  and  I  started 
well  equipped  to  run  a  decent  house.  But  I  was  too  strict,  and 
you  can't  make  a  house  pay  if  you  are  particular.  I  used  to  be  wake- 
ful at  nights,  kept  a  sharp  outlook,  and  turned  wrong  people  out  of 
my  house.  You  can  tell  about  the  character  of  your  house  if  you  are 
careful,  but  it  pays  to  shut  your  eyes.  At  best  a  house  won't  pay 
more  than  $250  over  expenses,  and  if  respectable  will  seldom  pay." 
And  then  she  added,  after  telling  how  she  worked  eight  years  to  be 
successful  and  then  gave  up  with  the  loss  of  all  she  had  invested : 
"After  my  long  struggle  I  can  hardly  blame  lodging-house  keepers 
who  shut  their  eyes,  nor  yet  young  girls  who  go  wrong,  because  they 
must  live." 


26  The  Liziiig  JTage  of  Women  Workers 

On  the  whole,  the  atmosphere  of  the  South  End  is  depressing. 
Its  very  attractions  seem  more  sordid  by  their  combination  with  tlie 
untidiness  of  the  ill-kept  streets  and  the  sense  of  moral  unwhole- 
someness  which  taints  the  district.     Quite  different  is  "The  Hill" 
and  the  adjoining  "West   End."     Here   the   atmosphere   of   "old 
Boston"  still  clings  undefiled,  reaching  from  the  State  House  down 
among  the  old  homes  whose  metamorphosis  into  lodgings  is  at  least 
an  evolution  in  respectability.    This  latter  term  would  seem  perhaps 
typical  of  the  whole  district.    No  section  of  the  city,  however,  shows 
greater  variety  of  social  conditions  within  a  limited  area.     Two  or 
three  streets  back  from  the  Common  there  is  a  section  of  homes, 
many  of  which  are  beautiful  old  houses  of  the  sort  which  never 
change  hands.     Pinckney  Street,  one  block  farther  west,  is  almost 
exclusively  lodging  houses,  and  only  one  block  beyond  is  Revere 
Street,  hanging  on  the  edge  of  the  West  End  slum  district,  which 
extends  over  Cambridge  Street  to  the  water's  edge.     Pinckney  and 
West  Cedar  are  perhaps  the  two  streets  thoroughly  given  over  to  the 
lodging  house.     Here  the  houses  are  not  unlike  those  of  the  South 
End  in  plan,  with  two  large  square  rooms  and  a  small  hall  bedroom 
on  each  floor.     The  prices  are  somewhat  higher,  but  the  distinction 
that  stamps  the  difference  in  the  two  sections  most  clearly  is  in 
the  grade  and  variety  of  business  vv'hich  the  inhabitants  of  "The 
Hill"  have  attracted  to  themselves.     The  basement  dining  room, 
omnipresent  on  Columbus  Avenue  and  Tremont  Street,  is  unknown. 
Delicatessen   shops   are  rare,   and  the  quack   doctors,   dime-novel 
exchanges,  pawn  shops,  cheap  tailors,  dentists,  and  furniture  deal- 
ers, which  infest  the  track  of  the  elevated  toward  Dudley  Street, 
do  not  show  their  signs  in  the  West  End.     Instead,  the  lunch  and 
dining  rooms  offer  food  of  good  quality,  provision  stores  are  more 
or  less  high-priced,  and  the  dealers  in  second-hand  furniture  have 
expensive  mahogany  and  brasses  in  their  windows.     The  business 
section  and  the  main  sources  of  supplies  near  by  do  not  affect  the 
character  of  the  district. 

Such,  superficially,  are  the  South  and  West  Ends,  the  centers 
of  lodging-house  life  in  Boston.  In  the  suburbs,  isolation,  the  worst 
evil  of  the  lodging  house,  is  not  so  evident  as  in  the  city.  The  land- 
lady generally  has  lodgers  in  her  spare  rooms  only,  and  does  not  keep 
a  lodging  house  as  a  business  and  means  of  support.  The  lodger 
usuallv  has  or  makes  friends  in  the  house  and  is  on  terms  of  socia- 


Homes  and  Lodgings  27 

bility  and  friendliness  with  her  landlady.  She  is  less  of  an  imper- 
sonal unit  and  more  of  a  participant  in  the  life  about  her.  She 
becomes  a  member  of  the  family  and  does  not  suffer  the  disad- 
vantages of  lodging-house  life. 

Suburban  houses  and  rooms  are,  of  course,  much  less  monoto- 
nous. The  surroundings  are  oftentimes  sordid  and  miserable  in 
cheap  neighborhoods,  but  even  at  the  worst  have  not  the  wretched- 
ness of  certain  sections  of  the  city.  Lawns,  however  circum- 
scribed, are  not  uncommon,  and  shade  trees  and  gardens,  quiet 
streets  and  dooryards  give  to  the  lodging  house  in  the  suburbs  a 
setting  very  different  from  conditions  in  the  city.  Neighborhoods 
are  not  so  absolutely  and  entirely  given  over  to  lodgings.  Homes 
are  interspersed  and  weave  through  the  whole  fabric  of  life  here  a 
sociability  quite  unknown  to  the  city,  which  is  an  anchor,  however 
frail,  to  the  lonely  girl  on  her  own  resources. 

A  suburb  having  large  factories,  like  Jamaica  Plain,  has  sec- 
tions largely  populated  by  girls  and  men  in  lodgings.  In  these 
sections,  the  informality  of  life  in  a  smaller  community  leaves  a 
woman  less  alone.  The  girls  in  Jamaica  Plain  l<now  each  other  and 
know  their  neighbors  and  housemates  more  familiarly  than  in  any 
city  neighborhood.  But  this  very  familiarity  takes  away  a  real 
protection  for  the  working  girl,  for  the  restraints  of  conventionality 
are  practically  Unknown  in  the  big  lodging  or  boarding  houses, 
always  to  be  found  in  a  factory  neighborhood. 

Finding  an  individual  in  one  of  these  houses  is,  to  the  stranger, 
no  easy  task.  There  is  no  desk,  no  parlor,  no  office,  a  bell  to  ring 
but  no  one  to  answer,  no  proprietor,  nothing  but  a  row  of  closed 
doors  on  each  landing.  In  warm  weather,  there  may  be  some  of 
the  lodgers,  men  or  girls,  on  the  doorstep,  of  whom  inquiries  can 
be  made.  If  not,  a  knock  at  random  may  reveal  a  man  or  woman 
who  may  or  may  not  be  able  to  indicate  the  right  room.  One  night, 
when  the  writer  was  sitting  in  one  of  these  rooms,  a  man's  voice 
came  in  over  the  transom  throwing  a  jovial  remark  to  the  woman 
inside ;  on  another  occasion  a  head  appeared  in  the  doorway  witF 
hardly  the  formality  of  a  knock.  In  private  houses  the  disregard 
of  convention  is,  of  course,  not  so  evident. 

Always,  however,  as  in  the  city,  girls  entertain  their  meu 
callers  in  their  rooms.  One  girl  who  had  her  Tuesday  and  Friday 
evenings  regularly  so  engaged  had  so  small  a  room  that  there  waii 


28  Tlic  Living  Wage  of  Jl'onioi  IVorkcrs 

space  for  only  one  chair  beside  the  bed  and  bureau.  Others  with 
larger,  pleasantcr  rooms,  were  able  to  have  them  furnished  like 
sitting  rooms,  and  to  entertain  their  friends  more  properly.  What- 
ever the  original  reason  for  this  custom  among  women  in  lodgings, 
the  lack  of  a  parlor  cannot  be  given  as  an  explanation  in  these 
houses.  In  a  great  many  of  them  there  is  a  parlor,  and  in  many 
cases,  too,  tlie  girl  has  full  house  privileges,  which  include  the  use 
of  the  parlor.  This  use  of  one's  room,  however,  is  a  firmly  estab- 
lished social  custom  of  lodging-house  life,  so  universal  as  to  be 
taken  quite  as  a  matter  of  course.  The  reason  for  it  seems  to  be 
simply  the  desire  of  privacy  in  entertaining  one's  callers.  In  the 
city  this  privacy  must  be  secured  either  in  the  streets  or  parks 
or  in  one's  room.  In  the  suburbs,  where  the  houses  have  parlors, 
this  is  almost  equally  true.  A  parlor  within  earshot  and  sight  of 
the  family  affords  little  privacy,  and  when  it  is  necessary  to  share 
the  room  with  another  girl  entertaining  her  caller  the  call  loses  its 
pleasure.  In  a  girl's  own  home  or  in  dormitory  life  where  there 
are  strict  rules,  a  girl  conforms  to  the  decree  of  the  house,  but 
when  she  is  bound  by  no  such  rules,  she  naturally  and  quite  gen- 
erally solves  the  difficulty  by  taking  the  caller  to  the  one  private 
place  in  the  house — her.  own  room. 

How  much  harm  results  from  entertaining  callers  in  the  girl's 
room  cannot  be  determined  by  one  with  only  casual  knov/ledge  of 
conditions.  But  it  is  conceivable  that  the  consequences  of  such 
laxity  of  social  rules  may  be  frequently  unfortunate.  The  Franklin 
Square  House  has  solved  the  difficulty  by  a  series  of  small  and 
attractively  fitted  parlors  which  can  be  engaged  in  advance  and  . 
used  in  private.  In  other  working  girls'  houses  in  which  the  rules 
forbid  taking  callers  to  the  girls'  rooms,  it  is  doubtful  if  the  situation 
is  any  better  than  in  houses  having  no  such  rules.  Rather  than 
occupy  one  corner  of  a  room  shared  by  other  couples,  the  girls  take 
their  men  friends  to  the  streets,  to  the  benches  in  a  public  park  or 
elsewhere.  In  the  case  of  lodgers  in  private  houses,  however,  the 
entertainment  of  callers  in  this  fashion  is  subject  to  the  protecting 
scrutiny  of  the  landlady,  who  necessarily  knows  about  what  is  going 
on  within  the  limits  of  a  small  household  and  can  judge  more  or 
less  of  the  character  of  those  who  frequent  her  house. 

In  general,  it  may  be  concluded  that,  as  lodgings  in  the  suburbs 
conform  to  no  type,  the  life  of  the  girl  in  the  suburbs  observes  no 


Homes  and  Lodgings  29 

one  set  of  bounds  or  customs.  There  is  laxity  that  is  dangerous, 
and  there  are  ties  that  are  a  protection. 

The  alternative  of  the  lodging  house  for  the  girl  who  cannot 
or  does  not  live  in  a  private  family  is  one  of  the  working  girls' 
"homes,"  of  which  there  are  several  of  various  types.  These  insti- 
tutions meet  a  very  urgent  need  in  the  community.  Probably  the 
largest  and  most  widely  known  are  the  two  Young  Women's  Chris- 
tian Association  houses  and  the  Franklin  Square  House.  "The 
Grey  Nuns"  is  a  Catholic  Institution  in  the  South  End,  and  Brooke 
House  is  nearer  town.  Pembroke  House  is  a  smaller  place,  having 
more  the  atmosphere  of  a  family  and  less  of  the  institution. 
In  all  excepting  the  last  named,  the  arrangements  are  similar. 
Board  is  $3  per  week,  and  the  price  of  rooms  varies  with  the  room, 
the  number  sharing  it,  and  the  wage  of  the  girl,  for  these  institu- 
tions are  not  self-supporting  but  are  semi-philanthropic  in  char- 
acter. Rooms  may  be  had  singly  for  those  who  can  afford  it,  but 
for  the  most  part  the  girls  have  one  roommate,  sometimes  two,  and, 
in  the  case  of  the  girls  who  have  very  low  wages  and  only  pay 
50  cents  per  week  for  their  rooms,  three  or  four  roommates.  These 
latter  occupy  a  large  room  in  the  top  of  the  house,  usually  with 
plenty  of  windows  around  the  four  or  five  beds.  The  double  rooms 
are  small  and  barely  furnished  with  necessities  of  the  plainest  de- 
scription. The  ceilings  are  high,  the  walls  painted  drab  or  tan, 
the  windows  high  and  narrow.  The  demand  is  for  rooms  on  the 
upper  floors,  for  some  of  these  houses  take  transients,  and  girls  on 
the  lower  floors  lacking  a  roommate  are  quite  likely  to  come  home 
and  find  a  stranger  asleep  in  the  other  bed,  or  an  unfamiliar  hat  and 
coat  over  the  chair.  Some  of  the  rooms  are  heated  and  some  are 
not;  all  are  lighted  by  gas,  usually  by  one  small  jet  near  the  bureau. 

The  arrangements  for  ventilation  seem  very  often  inade- 
quate. In  one  large  building  the  rooms,  with  the  exception  of  a 
row  of  outside  rooms  across  the  front  on  the  north,  all  open  into 
a  court  in  the  center  of  the  building.  The  corridor,  which  is  con- 
tinuous, runs  entirely  around  the  outside  of  these  rooms.  All  the 
south  windows,  with  sunshine  streaming  into  them  all  day,  open  into 
this  corridor.  The  rooms  get  practically  no  sun ;  those  on  the  lower 
floors  actually  none.  The  amount  of  fresh  air  that  comes  from 
this  little  court  into  which  so  many  windows  open  must  be  very 
small,  especially  when  we  consider  the  rigid  rule  which  prevails 


30  The  Liz'ing  Wage  of  JVo)iie)i  Workers 

in  the  house  that  transoms  must  be  closed  when  windows  are  open, 
in  order  to  avoid  cooHng  off  the  corridors.  Two  or  three  persons 
in  a  small  room  often  increase  the  discomforts  of  poor  ventilation, 
not  only  by  the  mere  fact  of  their  number,  but  because  it  often 
happens  that  one  person  will  absolutely  refuse  to  be  "exposed"  to 
any  more  air  than  is  unavoidable. 

The  bathrooms  vary  generally  in  size  and  quantity,  and  in 
number  of  tubs.  In  some  of  the  old  buildings  they  are  close  and 
musty  with  unwholesome  looking  tin  tubs  and  closed  plumbing; 
very  often,  too,  there  are  water  bugs  around  the  pipes.  But  many 
of  the  bathrooms  are  more  modern  and  more  sanitary. 

Although  these  houses  are  always  well  filled,  many  working 
women  object  to  them.  This  dislike  is  not  based  primarily  upon 
any  of  the  unpleasant  features  that  have  been  mentioned.  The 
fact  is  that  the  same  longing  for  independence  which  brings  so 
many  into  industry  keeps  them  in  lonely  rooms,  leading  isolated 
lives.  The  rules  of  an  institution  are  shackles ;  the  customs  to 
which  inmates  must  conform  are  fetters.  The  women  who  do  live 
in  a  "home"  usually  give  as  their  reason  for  choosing  it  the  socia- 
bility and  liveliness  of  life  in  a  center  of  many  people.  Young 
girls  coming  to  the  city  for  the  first  time  find  protection  and  safety 
here.  Girls  on  low  wages  find  more  adequate  living  for  the  price 
than  can  be  obtained  elsewhere.  Some  women  there  are  in  each  of 
these  houses  who  have  spent  many  years  there  and  who  look  upon 
it  as  their  home,  indeed,  but  the  great  number  come,  stay  for  a 
time  and  go  on  to  something  else. 

This  insight  into  not  only  the  habit  of  living  but  the  desires 
and  aspirations  of  working  women  reveals  that  housing  for  single 
men  and  women  is  even  more  important  than  for  families,  but  that 
it  has  not  yet  been  attacked  in  the  general  efforts  for  better  housing. 
True  it  is  that  consideration  of  kind  and  quality  of  living  advan- 
tages must  be  studied  in  relation  to  the  income,  and,  therefore,  the 
amount  which  can  be  paid  for  rent.  But  the  present  custom  of 
remodeling  the  house,  built  for  a  family,  to  accommodate  the  single 
woman,  whereby  heated  rooms  and  reception  room  opportunities 
are  impossible,  is  responsible  for  much  of  the  undesirable  situation 
in  lodging  houses. 

If  any  effort  of  reform  is  to  be  made  it  is  apparent  that  the 
attitude  of  the  girl   should  be  considered  and  new  plans   should 


Homes  and  Lodgings  31 

strive  to  meet  her  demands  for  co-operative  living  or  living  in 
family  groups.  On  the  other  hand,  much  corrective  work  can  be 
done  through  properly  enforced  legislation  requiring  cleanliness, 
light  and  ventilation  in  lodging  houses ;  providing  for  parlors  and 
protecting  lodgers  from  carelessness.  Certainly  listing,  licensing 
and  inspection  should  be  provided  for. 

In  searching  out  the  "woman  on  her  own  resources"  it  seemed 
at  first  as  if  there  were  no  such,  for  wherever  the  writer  went 
among  settlements  and  clubs  and  even  shops,  the  reply  was  invaria- 
bly, "Our  girls  all  live  at  home."  If  the  long  rows  of  red  brick 
lodging  houses  in  the  South  End  had  not  proved  the  existence  of 
the  problem,  the  inquirer  might  almost  have  been  led  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  working  girls  of  Boston  were  all  safe  and  happy 
in  their  own  homes,  earning  wages  for  "pin  money"  and  to  supple- 
ment the  family  income  that  supported  them.  In  fact,  however, 
only  one  hundred  of  the  girls  visited  are  living  at  home  or  in  the 
families  of  friends.  Immigrant  girls  first  coming  to  this  country, 
ignorant  alike  of  social  customs  and  means  of  living  in  a  strange 
land,  usually  find  a  prearranged  lodging  with  some  family  to  whom 
they  are  known.  So  it  happens  that  in  the  West  and  North  Ends 
of  the  city,  where  the  great  colonies  of  Italians,  Russians  and  Jews 
are  found,  very  few  girls  live  by  themselves  in  lodgings.  But  it 
is  not  only  the  immigrant  girl  on  low  wages  who  is  a  member  of  a 
family.  In  the  suburbs,  on  quite  a  different  scale  of  living,  the 
American  girl  earning  good  wages  is  frequently  "one  of  the  family" 
in  the  prosperous  home  of  relatives  or  friends.  Then  there  is  the 
girl  who  is  actually  living  at  home,  paying  something  toward  the 
support  of  the  family. 

One  night,  in  a  West  End  tenement,  a  group  of  girls  compared 
experiences,  and  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  girls  who  were 
living  at  home  had  less  money  for  themselves  and  less  independence 
than  their  friends.  On  the  other  hand,  they  had  an  advantage, 
which  because  of  their  ignorance  of  an  unprotected  life  seemed 
not  very  valuable  to  them,  in  the  form  of  security,  companionship 
and  freedom  from  the  great  anxiety  of  self-support.  In  reality, 
the  cost  of  board  and  room  for  girls  living  at  home  is  far  less  than 
for  those  in  lodgings,  and  the  value  that  they  receive  in  return  is 
hardly  comparable.  Often  the  amount  that  a  girl  pays  is  based  not 
on  the  value  of  her  board  and  room,  but  on  the  amount  of  wages 


32  TJic  Living  Jl'agc  of  JJ^o}}ieii  JVorkcrs 

tliat  she  is  earning.  In  the  tenements  of  the  North  End  even  this 
small  addition  is  a  sufficient  help  to  make  the  boarder  profitable, 
and  in  more  prosperous  homes  often  the  boarder  is  welcomed  more 
for  the  sake  of  the  companionship  that  she  brings  than  for  the  money 
that  she  pays.  Among  girls  living  at  home  the  amount  paid  is  sel- 
dom commensurate  with  the  value  received.  Either  a  proportion 
considered  sufficient  for  clothes,  incidentals  and  pin  money  is  re- 
tained by  the  girl,  and  the  remainder  is  paid  into  the  family,  or  the 
whole  wage  is  turned  in  weekly,  and  the  girl's  expenses  are  decided 
upon  and  paid  by  the  mother,  as  in  the  case  of  the  younger  children. 
Sometimes  her  wages  more  than  cover  the  meager  amount  spent 
on  her  clothing,  and  sometimes  much  more  is  spent  on  her  than  the 
amount  that  she  earns. 


CHAPTER    III 

NOMINAL    VERSUS    ACTUAL    INCOMES 

The  weekly  wages  of  the  working  girl  by  no  means  indicate 
her  yearly  income.  The  latter  is  ordinarily  much  less,  proportion- 
ately, than  the  former.  Just  as  the  proprietor  of  a  restaurant  in 
making  the  prices  on  his  menu  must  consider  not  only  the  price 
paid  for  raw  food,  but  the  cost  of  shrinkage  or  probable  waste  of 
the  raw  product  as  well,  so  the  woman  worker  in  planning  her 
expenses  must  take  into  account  the  shrinkage  of  her  income  before 
it  comes  into  her  hand  by  reason  of  fines,  trade  expenses,  docking 
for  holidays  and  vacations,  seasons  of  short  time  and  no  work.^ 
It  is  the  girl  on  the  low  wage  who  has  this  loss  to  bear  in  greatest 
measure.  The  actual  amount  of  money  loss  increases  up  to  the 
income  of  $io  per  week,  and  beyond  that  decreases  with  the  in- 
creasing wage.  While  the  girl  on  starvation  wages,  who  earns  $3, 
$4  or  $5  per  week,  does  not  actually  get  more  than  84.37  per  cent, 
of  this  amount,  the  more  prosperous  woman  earning  $15  and  over, 
gets  94.84  per  cent,  of  her  supposed  wages. 

These  losses  are  distributed  through  all  occupations,  the  average 
of  no  occupation  being  less  than  8  per  cent,  nor  more  than  13  per 
cent.,  excepting  that  for  factory  workers.  The  latter  suffer  most 
for  pay-docking,  losing  on  the  average  18.43  per  cent,  of  their 
annual  income.  Sales  girls  average  13.05 ;  waitresses,-  10.74  per 
cent. ;  kitchen  workers,  8.97  per  cent. ;  professional  women,  8.83 
per  cent.  Women  in  clerical  occupations  have  the  lowest  rate  of 
loss,  8.25  per  cent.,  and  also  receive  the  highest  incomes.  Factory 
workers,  sales  girls  and  waitresses,  with  low  incomes,  have  high 
rates  of  loss.^ 

The  high  percentage  of  loss  of  income  among  factory  girls  is 

1  See  Table  1,  p.  37. 

2  In  reckoning  wages  of  waitresses,  board  is  figured  at  $3  per  week 
for  three  meals  per  day,  $2.10  per  week  for  two  meals,  and  $1.20  for  one 
meal  per  day,  according  to  the  estimate  made  by  the  lunch  rooms  of  the  Women's 
Educational  and  Industrial  Union  in  reckoning  salaries  for  employes'  benefit.  Room 
is  figured  at  $3  per  week  if  included  in  wages  all  the  year  round.  If  a  regular 
rent  is  paid  during  part  of  the  year,  the  room,  when  supplied  as  part  of  the  wages, 
is  figured  at  the  same  rate. 

«  See  Tables  1,  2  and  3.  pp.  37,  38. 

(33) 


34  T'^'t'  Lii'iiii^  //'(j^r  of  Jl'oiiicii  Workers 

due  in  part  to  the  long  periods  of  short  hours  and  lay-offs  on  account 
of  slack  trade.  Among  sales  girls  the  4.50  per  cent,  loss  through  ill- 
ness is  a  large  factor  in  the  high  rate.  But  the  greatest  source  of 
loss  for  all  classes  is  unemployment.  The  factory  girls  pay  the  high- 
est penalty  here,  having  an  out-of-work  loss  of  7.14  per  cent.,  fol- 
lowed closely  by  the  waitresses,  with  6.89  per  cent.  The  latter 
probably  increase  their  out-of-work  time  considerably  by  changing 
places  between  seasons,  working  summers  at  the  beach  and  winters 
in  the  cities.  Sales  girls  have  6.66  per  cent,  loss  from  out-of- 
work;  clerical  workers,  5.75  per  cent.;  kitchen,  5.43  per  jent. ; 
professional,  3.85  per  cent. 

The  losses  of  the  professional  woman  are  comparatively  small. 
The  3.85  per  cent,  loss  from  unemployment  is  the  chief  one.  There 
is  a  2.70  per  cent,  loss  through  vacations,  which  are  usually  volun- 
tary, and  are  taken  in  addition  to  her  regular  vacation  ^f  one 
week,  two  weeks  or  one  month.  The  percentage  for  illness  is  only 
1.41  per  cent.,  and  the  reductions  on  account  of  lay-offs  and  holi- 
days are  less  than  i  per  cent.  each.  The  clerical  worker  also  has 
no  very  considerable  loss  beyond  that  of  unemployment.  She  is 
almost  always  paid  for  holidays  and  vacations,  and  even  "days  off" ; 
she  is  seldom  docked  for  illness  or  fined  for  tardiness,  and  hardly 
knows  what  "laid  off"  means.  The  sales  girl,  on  the  contrary,  loses 
almost  as  much  because  of  illness  as  for  no  work,  but  a  very 
small  amount  through  fines.  Waitresses  pay  more  for  trade  ex- 
penses than  any  other  class  of  workers.  Factory  workers,  on  the 
other  hand,  lose  5.73  per  cent,  through  being  laid  off  and  2.57  per 
cent,  by  illness. 

Comparison  of  the  losses  by  illness  shows  two  facts;  first, 
that  the  clerical  and  professional  occupations  do  not  commonly  de- 
duct pay  for  illness ;  second,  that  the  occupations  having  the  largest 
percentage  of  loss,  sales,  factory  and  kitchen  employment,  require  a 
larger  expenditure  of  physical  energ}',  with  probably  worse  con- 
ditions of  work.  The  offices  where  clerical  and  professional  women 
work  are  better  ventilated  than  are  the  big  department  stores  and 
factories.  Then,  too,  health  is  influenced  by  hours  of  work  and 
the  demand  of  that  work  upon  physical  strength.  This  question 
will  be  considered  again  in  the  chapter  on  Health. 

It  appears  that  the  heaviest  loss  for  all  occupations  comes 
from  no  work,  that  sales  girls  pay  the  highest  amount  for  illness. 


Nominal  Versus  Actual  Incomes  35 

professional  workers  for  vacations,  factory  employes  for  holidays 
and  laid-off  times,  waitresses  for  fines  and  trade  expenses,  and 
that  in  general  the  low-wage  groups  pay  a  higher  proportion  back 
to  the  firm  than  the  high-wage  groups. 

The  manner  in  which  the  working  girl  meets  this  curtailment 
of  income  remains  to  be  considered.  Obviously,  on  wages  of  $6, 
or  less,  something  must  be  done.  A  girl  making  ends  meet  on 
inadequate  wages  cannot  allow  any  margin  for  unforeseen  reduc- 
tions of  her  small  income.  Certain  compensations,  however,  are 
provided  by  the  work  itself.^  The  factory  girl,  to  offset  her  loss 
of  almost  13  per  cent,  from  out-of-work  and  lay-offs,  gains  almost 
I  per  cent,  in  overtime.  This,  it  can  be  seen,  would  hardly  con- 
firm the  theory  that  extra  work  in  rush  seasons  makes  up  loss  in 
slack  seasons.  The  waitress,  however,  more  than  makes  up  her 
total  loss  of  10.74  per  cent,  by  tips  alone,  which  amount,  on  the 
average,  to  11.74  per  cent,  of  her  entire  income.  In  many  cases, 
where  the  hours  of  work  and  physical  health  permit,  a  secondary 
occupation  adds  a  small  amount.  But  the  chief  means  of  addi- 
tional revenue  for  all  occupations  are  those  included  under  the 
heading  "other  sources."  In  most  cases  this  means  help  from  home, 
relatives  or  friends,  or  drawing  upon  the  savings  of  previous  years, 
sometimes  care  during  an  illness  or  gifts  of  clothing,  and  in  many 
cases  charity  from  various  sources.  One  or  two  girls  have  incomes 
from  a  small  property. 

As  a  whole,  these  additions  to  income  tend  to  be  complementary 
to  the  scale  of  losses.  The  largest  percentage  of  gains  comes  to 
the  group  earning  $9  to  $11  per  week,  while  the  two  lower  groups 
have  an  almost  equal  percentage.  The  more  highly  paid  women, 
with  small  losses,  have  also  a  small  percentage  of  gains.  It  be- 
comes clear,  then,  that  it  is  real  necessity  which  makes  outside 
help  important,  and  not  extravagance.  Women  on  comfortable 
wages  are  not  forced  to  work  overtime  and  at  outside  work,  nor 
to  receive  partial  support  from  outside  sources,  as  are  those  on 
smaller  wages.  The  losses  of  women  earning  $15  and  over  are  less 
than  one-third,  in  proportion,  than  those  of  girls  earning  but  $3,  $4 
or  $5.  The  income  from  gains  does  not  equal  these  losses,  which 
are  unforeseen  and  incalculable,  so  that  all  effort  at  supplementing 

1  See  Tables  4  and  5,  p.  39. 


36  The  Living  IVage  of  iroiiicn  JVorkcrs 

incomes  by  extra  work  and  charity  does  not  even  keep  the  income 
up  to  its  nominal  level. 

The  fact  that  low  wages  are  really  much  lower  even  than  they 
appear  to  be,  by  reason  of  disproportionately  great  losses,  means 
that  efficiency  is  more  highly  rewarded  than  is  indicated  by  the 
difference  in  nominal  wages.  In  addition  to  good  pay,  the  worker 
of  tlie  high-wage  groups  is  further  rewarded  by  practical  immunity 
from  loss.  To  what  extent  the  unforseen  shrinkage  of  income 
is  unfair  to  the  poorly  paid  worker  depends  on  her  expectation  of 
loss.  A  girl  who  would  refuse  an  actual  wage  of  $4.25,  may  un- 
wittingly accept  a  nominal  wage  of  $5,  although  the  real  earnings, 
after  reduction  of  losses,  may  be  no  more  than  the  former  amount. 
It  is  the  element  of  potential  deception  that  makes  the  reductions 
seem  unfair.  In  some  cases  a  firm  expects  and  counts  on  a  cut 
in  its  pay-roll  by  means  of  what  are  often  unavoidable  fines,  en- 
forced absences,  holidays  and  vacations,  so  that  in  offering  a  wage 
of  $5  per  week  they  have  no  intention  of  paying  that  full  amount. 
Scarcely  less  unfair  is  the  enforced  lack  of  vacation  and  holidays. 
When  the  worker  is  not  only  docked  for  any  recuperative  period, 
but  is  actually  debarred  from  taking  such  time  at  her  own  expense, 
it  means  that  the  firm  is  not  offering  her  reasonable  and  possible 
terms  of  employment.  It  becomes  a  temporary  job  to  last  only 
so  long  as  the  human  machine  can  stand  the  strain.  In  such  cases 
doctors'  bills  should  rightly  be  considered  one  of  the  various  forms 
of  pay-docking,  since  the  firm  profits  by  its  demands  on  strength 
at  the  worker's  expense. 

Any  consideration  of  the  low  wages  of  women,  or  of  mininnim 
wages,  must,  therefore,  recognize  that  the  nominal  rate  of  wage,  in 
whatever  occupation,  is  from  4  to  14  per  cent,  above  the  actual 
income;^  that  is,  the  supplementary  income  in  the  trade  is  very 
small,  averaging,  in  any  case,  barely  more  than  4  per  cent.,  except 
among  waitresses,  while  the  loss  from  trade  causes  ranges  from  8  to 
18  per  cent.  This  results  in  from  about  35  cents  to  $1.25  reduc- 
tion each  week  on  a  $9  wage,  disregarding  income  from  other 
sources,  because  it  is  not  determined  by  the  wage. 

»  See  Tables  3  and  4,  pp.  38,  39. 


Nominal  Versus  Actual  Incomes 


37 


TABLE  I. — Modification  of  Incomes  by  Losses  and  Gains, 
BY  Occupation. 


Aver- 
age 
income. 

Average  loss. 

Average  gain. 

Average  actual 
income. 

Average  net  loss 
or  gain. 

Occupation. 

a 
a 

1 
< 

Per- 
cent- 
age of 
income. 

o 

a 
< 

Per- 
cent- 
age of 
income. 

O 

S 
< 

Per- 
cent- 
age of 
income. 

Amount. 

Per- 
cent- 
age of 
income. 

Professional 

$682.33 
516.98 
382.92 
406.99 
344.71 
374.83 

$60.22 
42.67 
49.97 
75.01 
37.02 
33.63 

8.83 
8.25 
13.05 
18.43 
10.74 
8.97 

$73.30 

25.28 
24.39 
60.39 
56.73 
1.10 

10.74 
4.89 
6.37 
12.38 
16.46 
.29 

$695.41 
499.59 
357.34 
382.37 
364.42 
342.30 

101.91 
96.64 
93.32 
93.95 

105.72 
91.32 

+  $13.08 

—  17.39 

—  25.58 

—  24.62 
+  19.71 

—  32.53 

+  1.91 
—3.36 

—6.68 

—6.05 

Waitresses 

Kitchen  workers... 

+5.72 
—8.68 

TABLE  2. — Modification  of  Incomes  by  Losses  and  Gains, 
BY  Wage  Groups. 


Average  actual 

Average  net  loss 

Average 
income. 

Average  loss. 

Average  gain. 

income. 

or  gain. 

Wage. 

Per- 

Per- 
cent- 

Per- 

Percent- 

Amount. 

cent- 
age of 
income. 

Amount. 

age  of 

in- 
come. 

Amount. 

cent- 
age of 
income. 

Amount. 

age  of 
income . 

$3.00) 
4.00V  . 

$250.31 

$39 .  13 

15.63 

S20 . 18 

S.06 

$231.36 

92.43 

-$18.95 

-7.57 

5.00) 

6.00) 

7.00^  . 

s.ool 

367.65 

47.31 

12. S7 

29.81 

8.38 

350.15 

95.24 

-    17.50 

-4.76 

9.00) 
10.00 V  . 

515.10 

66.39 

12.89 

44.83 

8.70 

493.54 

95.81 

-   21.56 

-4.19 

11.00) 

12.00) 

13.00^  . 

664.51 

56.47 

8.50 

21.24 

3.20 

629.28 

94.70 

-   35.23 

-5.30 

14.00) 

15.00] 
and    [-  . 
over  j 

903.65 

46.63 

5.16 

28.29 

3.13 

885.31 

97.97 

-    18.34 

-2.03 

38 


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CHAPTER    IV 

FOOD 

The  problem  of  getting  a  sufficient  supply  of  wholesome  food 
at  a  price  within  her  means  is  probably  the  most  serious  one  that 
the  woman  on  a  small  wage  has  to  face.  With  nourishing,  plentiful 
meals,  other  problems  become  less  serious,  and  are  met  with  com- 
parative ease,  but  in  an  ill-nourished  condition,  courage  and  initiative 
wane,  perplexities  multiply,  and  the  woman  loses  heart  for  the 
struggle. 

At  first  glance,  it  would  seem  that  the  opportunities  for  board 
at  reasonable  expense  are  many.  First,  of  course,  are  the  dining 
rooms  of  the  larger  "homes"  for  working  women.  Here  board  is 
$3  per  week  for  girls  not  rooming  in  the  house,  as  well  as  for  in- 
mates. Single  meals  may  be  had  separately  at  any  time  at  a  cost 
of  15  cents  each  for  breakfast  and  lunch,  and  25  cents  for  dinner. 
Basement  dining  rooms,  where  boarders  eat  regularly  or  irregu- 
larly, on  meal  tickets  or  individual  payments,  at  a  rate  usually  of 
"$3  per  week  for  ladies,  $3.50  for  gents,"  seem  almost  to  form  the 
foundation  of  the  South  End,  as  well  as  its  sustenance.  Inter- 
spersed with  these,  and  scattered  throughout  the  city,  are  a  la  carte 
restaurants,  almost  equally  cheap.  Delicatessen  shops,  which  sup- 
ply ready-cooked  food,  and  provision  stores  complete  the  main 
part  of  the  city's  equipment  for  feeding  its  lodging-house  popula- 
tion. The  means  appear  sufficient,  but  their  adequacy  is  open  to 
question. 

The  atmosphere  of  the  dining  rooms  of  the  "homes"  is  not, 
as  a  rule,  inviting.  Aii  experience  of  the  investigator  may  serve  to 
illustrate  the  purport  of  this  observation.  With  a  companion,  she 
visited  the  dining  room  of  a  home  for  working  girls.  They  were 
seated  by  the  head  waitress  at  the  "transient"  table,  facing  the 
corner  of  the  room  opposite  a  row  of  empty  chairs.  'T  beg  your 
pardon,"  said  the  investigator  to  the  head  waitress,  "but  would 
It  be  possible  to  change  our  seats  to  the  other  end  of  the  table?" 
The  head  waitress  looked  her  over  severely  for  several  uncom- 
fortable seconds.     Then,  'T  put  you  there,"  she  remarked.     "Oh, 

(40) 


Food  41 

yes,"  the  investigator  replied,  "but  we  are  looking  for  some  friends, 

and" She  got  no  further,  for  the  head  waitress's  eyes  were 

blazing.  A  long  forefinger  shot  out  and  pointed  straight  at  the  un- 
fortunate questioner's  nose.  When  a  voice  came  it  was  suppressed 
ominously.  "I — put — you — there — and — you — stay — there,"  it  said. 
The  eyes  blazed  into  the  investigator's  for  a  full  minute,  and  then 
two  more  transients  who  arrived  took  the  head  waitress's  attention. 
"Let  me  see,"  she  remarked,  aiming  her  words  obviously  at  the  in- 
vestigator, "I  think  I'll  put  you  here,"  and  she  seated  them  in  the 
seats  just  asked  for,  facing  the  length  of  the  dining  room.  The 
next  guest  to  arrive  was  a  thin,  ill-looking  woman  with  a  cough. 
She  was  placed  next  to  the  investigator,  under  an  open  window, 
from  which  a  chilly  draught  swept  through  to  the  dining  room 
door.  The  woman  coughed,  shivered  and  finally  spoke  to  the  head 
waitress,  "Is  there  any  other  seat  I  may  have?"  she  asked.  "I've  a 
cold  and  I  feel  the  draught."  Before  she  had  finished,  the  head 
waitress's  eyes  were  staring  her  out  of  countenance.  The  long 
forefinger  again  shot  out,  but  no  word  came.  A  long  breath,  com- 
pressed lips,  and  the  forefinger  were  enough.  The  woman  had 
paid  her  25  cents;  she  must  have  the  dinner;  she  stayed  where 
she  was. 

This  incident  has  been  used  here  because  it  seems  typical. 
Most  of  the  women  to  whom  it  has  been  told  have  remarked  that  it 
was  nothing  unusual.  To  the  investigator  it  was  an  experience  of 
one  meal.  But  to  the  woman  to  whom  it  represents  home,  coming 
tired  from  the  day's  work  to  a  "home"  that  she  depends  upon  for 
relaxation  and  recuperation  of  her  powers,  mental  and  physical,  the 
humiliation  of  submitting  to  such  treatment  must  be  severe.  "The 
girls  are  treated  like  prisoners,"  is  a  common  verdict  among  those 
who  have  lived  under  these  circumstances.  "The  voice  of  authority 
is  always  over  them,  and  they  are  never  allowed  to  forget  it."  To 
many,  of  course,  the  value  of  fairly  good  food,  community  life,  and 
the  other  advantages  of  these  institutions,  more  than  offset  the  petty 
tyrannies.  Many  may  chance  to  encounter  actual  unpleasantnesses 
very  seldom,  and  may  live  happily  enough  even  in  the  omnipresent 
atmosphere  of  authority,  to  which,  it  may  well  be  imagined,  they 
become  so  accustomed  as  to  feel  no  discomfort.  But  it  is,  never- 
theless, a  barrier  that  keeps  others  from  entering. 

The    quality   of   the    food   served   in   the   "homes"    is  some- 


+2  The  Living  Wage  of  ll'oinen  Workers 

times  good,  sometime  not,  but  usually,  so  far  as  could  be 
learned,  the  quantity  is  plentiful.  One  large  institution,  to 
be  sure,  serves  scanty  rations.  The  matron  in  charge  complains  that 
the  girls  are  half -starved  and  that  she  can  do  nothing  about  it.  She 
declares,  too,  that  the  institution  is  making  money,  but  nothing 
definite  in  regard  to  this  statement  could  be  ascertained.  The  girls 
living  in  this  particular  house  give  various  testimony.  The  major- 
ity seem  to  think,  however,  that  the  food  is  poor  and  insufficient,  and 
most  of  them  report  expenditure  for  extra  food,  fruit  and  crackers 
in  their  rooms.  Certainly  the  investigator's  one  dinner  in  this  build- 
ing made  her  loath  to  risk  another.  The  quality  of  food  in  one 
other  institution  seems  so  poor  as  to  be  inadequate.  After  dining 
at  this  place  the  following  note  was  made  on  the  schedules  based 
upon  the  girls'  opinions  and  the  investigator's  observation :  "Orders 
scanty,  second  orders  of  everything  served  if  desired,  but  seldom 
desired."  At  all  the  other  "homes"  visited  the  food  is  uniformly 
adequate.  The  menus  are  fairly  well  selected,  and  the  cooking 
good.  The  orders  are,  in  general,  well  cooked,  good-sized  and 
second  orders  are  served  upon  request.  The  service,  too,  is  satis- 
factory. The  waitresses  are  willing,  pleasant  and  quick,  and  show 
less  indifference  than  is  frequently  encountered  in  more  high-priced 
dining  rooms.  The  tablecloths  are  of  necessity  coarse,  the  dishes 
thick  and  there  are  few  superfluous  attractions.  One  can  easily 
conceive,  too,  that  the  food  might  become  unbearably  monotonous 
after  a  time,  but,  on  the  whole,  it  seems  adequate. 

A  very  different  tale  might  be  told  of  the  basement  dining 
rooms.  They  are  uniformly  bad.  Usually,  the  first  thing  to  weary 
tired  eyes  and  nerves  is  the  physical  aspect  of  these  places.  In 
one,  the  walls  are  decorated  with  flamboyant  paper  of  sprawling 
figures  in  green  and  scarlet;  on  its  fly-blown  surface  hang  such 
well-meaning  placards  as,  "If  we  please  you,  tell  your  friend;  if  not, 
tell  us,"  and  huge  price  lists  announcing  different  rates,  according  as 
the  customer  is  a  "gent"  or  a  "lady."  During  the  summer  the  single 
gas  jets  in  the  tarnished  chandeliers  burn  hotly  in  the  stifling  air; 
in  winter  the  atmosphere  is  full  of  steam  and  kitchen  odors.  There 
are  tw^o  or  three  long  dining  tables  covered  with  badly  soiled  linen, 
and  silver  greasy  both  to  sight  and  touch,  four  long  rows  of  vinegar 
cruets,  salts,  peppers,  plates  of  bread  or  biscuit,  wilted  lettuce  and 
all  the  dreary  accompaniments  of  such  a  meal  as  was  to  be  had 


Food  43 

here.  Untidy,  careless  waitresses,  as  soiled  in  dress  as  the  table 
linen,  come  with  the  remark  rather  than  the  question,  "Soup  or 
fish  ?"  and  without  waiting  for  an  answer,  saunter  off  to  return  with 
both.  Certainly  these  places  are  not  attractive.  And  the  food  they 
serve  is  not  palatable.  As  great  a  variety  as  possible  of  the  poorest 
quality,  badly  cooked — this,  in  brief,  is  the  whole  story.  It  may 
be  that,  concealed  among  the  many  establishments  of  this  description, 
there  are  some  of  a  better  sort,  but  the  investigator  did  not  happen 
upon  them.  All  those  recommended  as  especially  good,  with  "fine 
food,"  were  visited.  These  recommendations,  made  in  all  sincerity, 
seemed  to  indicate  standards  of  living  very  much  to  be  deplored 
since  they  allow  satisfaction  with  such  food  in  such  surroundings. 
These  are,  it  must  be  understood,  dining  rooms  of  the  $3-a-week 
grade.^  There  are  other  dining  rooms  serving  table  d'hote  at  $4  a 
week  and  upward,  which  are  attractive  in  appearance,  and  thor- 
oughly satisfactory  in  respect  to  food  and  service,  but  they  are 
beyond  the  means  of  the  woman  on  small  wages. 

The  cheapest  way  of  providing  food  is,  of  course,  to  buy  raw 
material  and  cook  it  at  home.  Many  landladies  will  not  allow  lodgers 
to  cook  in  their  rooms,  but,  nevertheless,  the  woman  who  depends 
upon  doing  so  can  always  find  lodgings  where  she  may  have  this 
privilege.  Sometimes  50  cents  a  week  extra  is  charged  for  the  room 
if  cooking  is  to  be  done.  Sometimes,  though  chiefly  in  the  suburbs, 
the  use  of  the  kitchen  is  granted.  Often  an  oil  stove  solves  the 
problem. 

The  weekly  cost  of  food  provided  in  this  way  is  frequently  very 
small.  Three  sisters,  all  earning  fairly  good  wages,  who  have  a 
small  suite  together,  state  that  it  costs  them  about  $1.25  a  week  for 
breakfasts  and  dinners.  They  are  all  strong  and  well,  and  ade- 
quately fed.  The  almost  absolute  lack  of  waste  makes  economical 
living  possible.  On  the  other  hand,  however,  an  ignorant  girl,  not 
capable  of  good  management  of  her  food  supplies,  may,  in  the  end, 
find  boarding  herself  anything  but  economical.  "We  tried  boarding 
ourselves,"  said  three  Jamaica  Plain  shoe  factory  girls,  "but  we 
bought  so  much  stuff  from  the  baker's  windows  because  it  was  easy 
to  get  and  we  were  tired,  that  we  all  got  sick,  had  doctors'  bills  to 
pay,  and  went  in  debt.     So  now  we  find  the  only  way  to  get  along 

^Soutb   End   dining   rooms ;    three-course   dinner — 20   cents :    Choice   2    soups,    3 
meats,  3  vegetables  and  all  kinds  of  pie  or  pudding. 


44  The  Living  Jl'agc  of  Jl'oiiioi  Workers 

is  by  waiting  on  table  for  our  board.  It's  hard  work,  after  factory 
hours,  but  at  least  we  get  enough  food  and  don't  get  sick." 

It  is  true  that  a  smaller  amount  spent  for  food  may  mean  very 
much  more  adequate  nourishment  when  the  cooking  is  done  at  home. 
It  is  a  question,  however,  whether  the  expenditure  of  strength  which 
this  exacts  from  a  tired  woman  does  not  ofifset  the  advantage  of 
more  wholesome  food.     The  landlady  of  one  girl  remarked,  "Aliss 

I often  doesn't  have  any  dinners.     She  gets  home  at  7  p.  m. 

from  the  factory,  and  is  too  tired  either  to  go  out  to  dinner  and 
climb  the  five  long  flights  to  her  room  or  to  cook  anything  for  her- 
self." And  this  is  not  an  infrequent  case.  "I  know  that  I  ought  to 
get  my  meals  regularly,"  said  another  girl,  "but  when  I  get  home 
I  am  so  tired  that  I  don't  feel  like  fussing  to  go  out  and  buy  stuff 
and  bring  it  home  and  cook  it." 

On  account  of  the  difficulty  of  managing  the  food  problem  on 
low  wages,  many  women  express  the  opinion  that  the  most  desirable 
occupation  is  waiting  on  table.  When  meals  are  included  in  the 
wages  of  the  waitress,  there  is  surely  plenty  of  food,  but  the  state- 
ments of  many  of  these  girls  that  they  spend  largely  on  extra  food 
seem  to  indicate  that  in  reality  the  occupation  is  not  so  desirable 
as  it  seems.  This  may  be  due  to  the  insufficiency  of  the  food,  or 
possibly  to  the  irregularity  of  the  meals,  or  more  probably  to  the 
lack  of  desire  for  food  immediately  after  having  served  it  in  large 
quantities.  Waitresses  in  summer  hotels  often  have  fare  that  is  so 
plain  as  to  be  very  untempting.  In  a  large  hotel  there  is  a  separate 
kitchen,  and  cook,  as  well  as  dining  room  for  the  "help."  The  fare 
consists  of  cheap  meats,  boiled  potatoes,  bread  and  butter,  and  tea 
and  some  kind  of  dessert.  Fresh  vegetables  are  seldom  served ;  fruit 
and  salads,  never.  Sometimes  the  left-over  muffins  from  the  guests' 
dining  room  are  served  at  the  "help's"  breakfast  the  next  day,  but 
beyond  this  nothing  goes  from  one  kitchen  into  the  other.  Rules 
are  strict  against  taking  any  left-over  food  from  the  trays  as  the 
waitresses  carry  them  out,  and  anything  of  the  sort  detected  by  the 
ever-watchful  head  steward  is  punishable  by  dismissal.  Neverthe- 
less, fruit  and  other  portable  bits  are  frequently  pocketed  "between 
doors."  In  some  hotels  the  waitresses  are  "on  watch"  one  day  in 
every  two  or  three  weeks.  This  consists  of  being  on  duty  for  the 
late  evening  train,  for  early  breakfasts  and  lunches.  The  reward  is 
the  privilege,  divided  among  the  three  or  four  who  are  on  watch 


Food  45 

together,  of  eating  up  all  the  ice  cream  left  in  the  freezers,  which 
often  is  a  considerable  amount. 

In  restaurants  the  fare  is  less  restricted.  In  most  of  the  places 
visited  the  waitresses  are  allowed  "anything  on  the  menu."  Rare  or 
unusually  expensive  foods,  like  unseasonable  fruits  and  vegetables, 
are  often  excepted,  and  sometimes  the  waitresses  are  allowed  only 
the  food  left  unsold  from  the  day  before.  On  the  whole,  however, 
employment  in  restaurants,  whether  it  affords  good  conditions  in 
other  ways  or  not,  does  at  least  provide  good  food. 

The  standard  of  living  in  respect  to  food  varies  considerably 
for  different  occupations.^  The  professional  woman  spends  the 
largest  amount  on  food,  but  the  smallest  proportion  of  income.  Her 
expenditure  averages  $3.20  per  week  for  regular  meals,  and  about 
50  cents  for  extra  food,  so  that  the  whole  cost  is  nearly  $3.70  per 
week,  representing  27.63  per  cent,  of  her  income.  The  clerical 
woman  pays  the  next  highest  sum,  amounting,  with  extra  food,  to 
$3.35  per  week,  although  the  expenditure  for  regular  board  averages 
but  a  trifle  over  $3.00;  the  percentage  of  income  spent  for  food  is 
next  to  the  lowest,  34.91  per  cent.  The  waitress  pays  almost  as 
much,  $3.31,  and  the  highest  percentage  of  income,  47.17  per  cent. 
The  sales  girl  pays  $3.16,  or  46.05  per  cent  of  her  income.  The  fac- 
tory worker  pays  the  smallest  amount  for  food;  her  entire 
expenditure  is  only  $2.84  per  week,  or  38.64  per  cent,  of  her 
income. 

Waitresses  and  kitchen  workers  appear  to  spend  a  larger  amount 
for  regular  meals  than  do  sales  and  factory  girls.  But  it  should  be 
noted  that  the  figures  of  food  expenditures  for  these  classes  are  only 
estimates;  meals  included  in  wages  are  reckoned  at  the  rate  of  $3 
per  week  for  three  meals. 

Sales  girls,  clerical  workers  and  professional  women  buy  the 
largest  amount  of  extra  food;  factory  workers  buy  the  least.  The 
first  group  may  be  more  inclined  to  extravagance.  It  would  seem  as 
if  the  more  adequate  incomes  of  the  clerical  and  professional  classes 
and  the  possible  instinct  of  indulgence  stimulated  by  surroundings 
in  the  sales  girl  would  cause  such  expenditures,  while  the  low  wage 
of  the  factory  girl  would  explain  the  small  amount  spent  in  this 
group  both  for  regular  board  and  for  extra  food. 

A  classification  of  expenditure  for  food  by  wage  groups  is  really 

igee  Table  1,  p.  47. 


46  The  Living  Wage  of  JVo))ien  Workers 

more  serviceable,  as  it  is  evident  that  the  grade  of  the  worker  in  the 
various  occupations  standardizes  the  Hving  more  effectually  than  does 
the  occupation.^  Between  the  $3  to  $5  group  and  the  next  higher 
division  there  is  a  large  increase  in  food  expenditure.  The  difference 
between  the  $6  to  $8  group  and  the  next  higher  is  less  marked.  It 
thus  appears  that  the  increase  of  income  up  to  $8  is  used  to  provide 
a  better  dietary.  The  slighter  increase,  both  in  regular  board  and 
in  extra  food,  between  this  and  the  next  higher  division  would  seem 
to  indicate  that  the  most  pressing  needs  in  these  directions  are  met 
at  about  a  $9  wage.  With  the  transition  to  a  still  higher  wage  the 
increase  in  expenditure  for  regular  board  again  becomes  marked, 
showing  a  distinct  advance  in  standards  to  a  more  adequate  food 
allowance  for  the  $12  to  $14  income.  Interesting  to  note  here  is  the 
absence  of  any  expenditure  for  extra  food.  Evidently  board  at  the 
rate  of  $3.67  per  week,  the  weekly  cost  of  food  in  the  $12  to  $14 
group,  is  satisfactory.  The  large  outlay  for  extra  food  in  the  $15 
and  over  division  and  the  decrease  in  expenditure  for  regular  board 
indicate  that  the  extra  food  largely  takes  the  place  of  regular  meals, 
probably  saving  many  "punches"  of  the  meal  ticket.  The  whole  cost 
of  food,  regular  and  extra,  increases  steadily  from  the  $3  girl  to  the 
highest  paid,  with  the  rate  of  increase  smallest  between  the  $6  to  $8 
and  the  $9  to  $11  group.  The  percentage  of  income  spent  for  food 
shows  a  fairly  uniform  decrease  with  increasing  earnings.  Begin- 
ning with  over  58.30  per  cent,  of  the  income  for  the  lowest  wage 
group,  it  drops  to  23.23  per  cent,  for  the  highest,  or  from  consid- 
erably over  one-half  the  income  to  slightly  less  than  one-quarter. 

There  is  a  marked  tendency  on  the  part  of  the  lowest  paid 
workers  to  seek  positions  including  board.^  With  the  transition  from 
positions  including  board  to  those  not  offering  meals  as  pay  comes 
the  first  increase  of  food  expenditure.  The  second  notable  increase 
comes  between  the  third  and  fourth  groups,  when  wages  become 
large  enough  to  afford  sufficient  food  without  the  necessity  of 
"working  overtime"  in  cooking  it. 

iSee  Table  2,  p.  47. 

=!See  Tables  3  and  4,  pp.  47.  48. 


Food 


47 


TABLE  I. — Average  Annual  Expenditures  for  Food, 
BY    Occupation. 


Income. 

Cost  of  food  at  regu- 
lar meals. 

Cost  of  extra  food. 

Whole  cost  of  food. 

Occupation. 

Amount. 

Percent- 
age of 
income. 

Amount. 

Percent- 
age of 
income. 

Amount. 

Percentage 
of  income. 

Professional 

Clerical 

Sales 

$695.41 
499.59 
357.34 
382.37 
364.42 
342.30 

$166.43 
156.75 
144.96 
143.27 
160.65 
156.65 

23.93 
31.38 
40.57 
37.47 
44.08 
45.76 

$25.75 

17.65 

19.60 

4.48 

11.27 

0 

3.70 
3.53 

5.48 

1.17 

3.09 

0 

$192.18          27.63 
174.40          34.91 
164.56          46.05 

Factory 

Waitresses 

Kitchen  workers 

147.75 
171.92 
156.65 

38.64 
47.17 
45.76 

TABLE  2. — Average  Annual  Expenditures  for  Food, 
BY    Wage  Groups. 


Income. 

Cost  of  food  at  regu- 
lar meals. 

Cost  of  extra  food. 

Whole  cost  of  food. 

Wage. 

Amount. 

Percentage 
of   income. 

Amount. 

Percentage 
of  income. 

Amount. 

Percentage 
of  income. 

S3. 00) 

4.00V.... 

5.00J 

6.00) 

7.00  V.... 

8.00) 

9.00) 
lO.OOV.... 

ii.ooj 

12.00) 
13.00  v.... 
14.00J 
15.00) 

and    > 

over  j 

$231.36 
350.15 
493.54 
629.28 
885.31 

$131.64 
152.23 
158.35 
190.97 
179.41 

56.90 
43.48 
32.08 
30.35 
20.27 

$3.25 
10.00 
11.35 

0 
26.25 

1.41 
2.86 
2.30 

0 
2.97 

$134.89 
162.23 
169.70 
190.92 
205.66 

58.30 
46.33 
34.38 
30.34 
23.23 

TABLE  3. — Number  of  Meals  Received  as  Wages,  and  Number 
Doing  own  Cooking,  by  Occupation. 


Occupation. 

Number  of  meals  daily  as  wages. 

Own  cooking. 

1 

2 

3 

0 

Yes 

No 

Professional 

Clerical 

0 

I 
0 
0 
2 
0 

0 
I 
0 
0 
6 
8 

3 
4 
0 
0 

17 
0 

12 

36 
18 

47 
8 

3 

4 

14 

I 

3 

5 
5 

17 
48 

Sales 

20 

Factory 

45 

Waitresses 

Kitchen  workers... 

28 
6 

48 


The  Living  Wage  of  Women  Workers 


TABLE  4. — Number  of  Meals  Received  as  Wages,  and  Number 
Doing  Own  Cooking,  by  Wage  Groups 


Number  of  meals  daily  as  wages. 

Own 

cooking. 

Wage. 

1 

2 

3 

0 

Yes 

No 

$3.00] 

4.00  >■    ... 

I 

2 

7 

0 

0 

10 

5 .  00  J 

6.00  1 

7.00  \    ... 

0 

12 

12 

64 

13 

80 

8. 00  J 

9.00] 

10.00  ?■    ... 

I 

3 

8 

30 

10 

42 

II .00  j 

12 .00^ 

13.00  \    ■•■ 

0 

0 

0 

0 

I 

3 

14.00  J 

15.00! 

and   1-    ... 

0 

0 

5 

4 

2 

2 

over  J 

CHAPTER   V 
Rent 

Between  one-fifth  and  one-ninth  of  the  working  woman's 
income  is  spent  for  shelter.  It  appears  that  professional  women, 
clerical  employes,  sales  girls  and  kitchen  workers  pay  in  actual 
amount  approximately  the  same  rent,  between  $1.50  and  $1.60  per 
week,  while  factory  girls  and  waitresses  pay  a  little  over  $i  per 
week.^  One  would  naturally  expect  that  the  comparatively  high 
standard  of  living  of  professional  women  would  place  them  at  the 
top  of  the  list  in  regard  to  the  amount  paid  for  rent.  Clerical 
employes,  too,  approach  this  standard,  partly  because  they  must 
come  from  fairly  prosperous  circumstances,  in  order  to  afford  the 
expense  of  special  business  training,  partly  because  they  are  usually 
surrounded  by  industrial  conditions  that  make  for  high  standards. 
But  the  higher  pay  of  the  professional  woman  gives  her  the  lowest 
percentage  of  income  spent  for  rent,  11.55  per  cent.,  while  the 
clerical  worker  pays  a  very  large  proportion  for  rent,  16.56  per 
cent.  It  will  be  noted  that  the  relative  position  of  the  professional 
woman  in  respect  to  rent  expenditure  is  about  the  same  as  it  is  in 
reference  to  food  outlay. 

The  presence  of  kitchen  workers  in  the  class  paying  the  higher 
rents  seems  strange.  The  explanation  is  found  in  the  fact  that  most 
kitchen  workers  are  not  young  girls ;  they  are  usually  middle-aged 
women,  and  a  large  percentage  of  them  have  others  dependent  on 
them.  When  it  has  been  possible  to  do  so,  the  investigator  has 
reckoned  the  share  of  the  rent  that  should  be  charged  to  the  persons 
living  with  the  worker,  and,  if  the  latter  pays  it  all,  has  entered  the 
amount  of  the  formers'  share  under  "support  of  others."  In  many 
cases,  however,  this  was  impossible.  The  large  number  of  such 
cases  in  this  group  is  doubtless  responsible  for  the  appearance  of 
kitchen  workers  among  the  higher  rent  payers. 

It  would  seem  also  that  sales  girls  do  not  properly  belong  in 
this  group,  from  the  point  of  view  either  of  education  or  of  income 
Evidently  their  personal  standards  are  influenced  by  the  attractive 
goods  which  they  often  deal  in,  for  their  percentage  of  expenditure 

iSee  Table  1,  p.  59. 

(49) 


so  The  Living  JTagc  of  Women  Workers 

for  rent  is  extremely  high,  22.3  per  cent.,  or  ahiiost  one-fourth  of 
their  income. 

Factory  girls  and  waitresses  spend  for  rent  about  the  same 
amount,  a  little  over  $1  a  week,  and  about  the  same  proportion  of 
income,  15  per  cent.  This  is  natural.  In  these  two  occupations 
the  amount  of  education  is  likely  to  be  practically  equal.  Girls  with 
no  special  knowledge  of  any  kind  of  work  probably  enter  these  occu- 
pations, as  they  afford  openings  for  uneducated,  untrained  workers. 
This  might  be  said  of  sales  girls  as  well,  but  in  stores,  especially 
in  the  large  department  stores,  the  girls  come  in  contact  with  the 
beautiful.  Everything  is  kept  up  to  a  high  standard,  from  the  scrub- 
bing of  the  floors  to  the  care  of  stock  and  personal  appearance. 
Constant  contact  with  light  and  color  would  naturally  tend  to  create 
a  distaste  for  dirty  and  stuffy  lodgings.  Factory  girls,  on  the  other 
hand,  see  the  seamy  side  of  things.  The  conditions  that  surround 
the  workers  in  many  factories,  despite  the  sanitary  laws,  are  sug- 
gestive of  the  sordid.  The  investigator  occasionally  visited  girls  in 
tlieir  noon  hours  at  factories  of  various  sorts  and  found  conditions 
generally  depressing. 

In  one  factory  of  a  well-known  hat  company  the  women  stitch 
all  day  in  a  gloomy  room  with  bare  and  dirty  brick  walls,  the  floor 
cluttered  with  crumbs,  crusts  and  dirty  cups  from  the  brief  lunch 
on  the  work  tables.  They  work  ten  hours  a  day,  only  stopping  long 
enough  to  heat  some  cold  tea  at  noon.  Every  minute  during  the  day 
counts  toward  the  few  weekly  dollars;  the  investigator  felt  guilty  in 
taking  their  attention  even  for  a  moment.  In  a  box  factory  the  girls 
take  off  their  street  suits  and  put  on  old  skirts  and  waists  matted 
with  glue  and  dirt,  in  which  they  spend  ten  hours  a  day  "scoring," 
cutting  and  snipping,  wetting  great  sheets  of  paper  with  paste  by 
laying  them  on  a  board  thinly  spread  and  lifting  the  heavy  finished 
boxes  back  and  forth,  or  deftly  covering  little  ones  and  throwing 
them  rapidly  into  a  basket,  at  a  few  cents  a  day.  In  an  overall 
factory  the  light  is  so  poor,  and  soot-caked  windows  make  it  so  dim, 
that  some  of  the  women  who  work  there  say  that  they  cannot  stand 
the  eye-strain  and  will  have  to  seek  work  elsewhere.  In  one  shoe 
factory  town  many  complaints  are  heard  about  the  ventilation ;  in 
winter  the  windows  are  kept  closed  until  the  girls'  shirt  waists  are 
wet  with  perspiration.  Then  at  5  they  suddenly  emerge  into  the 
winter  air  and  consequently  have  perpetual  coughs.     What  kind  of 


Rent  51 

life  is  this  to  inspire  women  to  cultivate  the  niceties  of  home  life? 
Their  energy  and  their  patience  are  exhausted  at  the  end  of  ten 
hours  of  close  application  at  piece-work,  and  little  is  left  for  ambi- 
tion to  work  upon. 

The  investigator  spent  two  weeks  as  waitress  in  one  of  the  best 
hotels  in  New  England,  a  hotel  where  conditions  of  work  and  of 
living  for  the  help  are,  from  all  that  could  be  learned  from  the 
waitresses,  far  above  the  average.  Convenient  devices  were  every- 
where in  evidence  for  making  the  labor  of  cooking,  serving  and 
dish-washing  expeditious  and  smooth-running.  The  organization 
was  well-planned  and  well-managed.  But  the  kitchens  were  not 
clean,  and  one  of  the  most  frequent  and  heart- felt  remarks  heard  in 
the  servants'  dining-room  and  kitchen  was,  "I'm  glad  I  don't  have 
to  eat  the  stuff  that's  cooked  out  there.  Those  poor  guests  little 
know  what  they're  eating."  These  unappetizing  conditions  have  an 
obvious  effect  upon  the  waitresses.  Seeing  the  food  manipulated 
before  they  take  it  on  their  trays  frequently  causes  indifference  and 
sometimes  lack  of  conscience  in  serving.  A  certain  attitude  of 
irresponsibility  toward  the  food  becomes  the  normal  standard,  and 
even  girls  who  seem  to  be  naturally  fastidious  drop  into  this  atti- 
tude. 

On  the  whole,  then,  the  marked  difference  between  the  rent 
paid  by  sales  girls  and  by  factory  girls  and  waitresses  indicates  that 
working  conditions  do  have  a  tangible  effect  in  elevating  or  lower- 
ing the  standard  of  living. 

The  amount  spent  for  rent  rises  as  income  increases,  while  the 
percentage  of  income  taken  by  this  expenditure  falls.  In  both  these 
respects  the  cost  of  rent  bears  the  same  relation  to  income  as  that 
of  food.^  The  amount  increases  from  less  than  $1  per  week  for  the 
$3  to  $5  wage  group  to  over  $2  per  week  for  the  $15  and  over  wage 
group,  but  the  percentage  declines  from  21.56  to  13.06.  The  advance 
in  expenditure  for  rent,  as  for  food,  is  especially  marked  in  the  case 
of  the  second,  or  $6  to  $8  wage  group,  as  compared  with  the  lowest, 
or  $3  to  $5  wage  group,  namely,  from  less  than  $1  per  week  to 
nearly  $1.50  per  week.  It  appears  that  the  first  increase  in  the 
amount  of  income  goes  largely  for  better  lodgings  and  board.  A 
sharp  drop  in  the  percentage  of  rent  expenditure  comes  with  the 
$9  to  $12  wage,  indicating  that  here  the  essential  decencies  and  com- 
forts of  living  conditions  have  been  achieved. 

»See  Table  2,  p.  59, 


D- 


Tlic  Liz'iiii^  ll'ai^e  of  Women  Workers 


The  whole  story  of  standards  in  rent,  however,  is  not  told  in 
terms  of  dollars  and  cents,  as  over  one-third  of  the  total  number  live 
in  the  suburbs  and  tiiis  tends  to  make  the  general  average  of  rent 
paid  among  these  workers  lower  than  the  city  average.^  One-quar- 
ter of  the  professional  women,  one-third  of  the  kitchen  workers 
and  factory  workers  and  two-thirds  of  the  clerical  workers  concern- 
ing whom  information  was  obtained  are  suburbanites.^ 

Roommates  are  another  form  of  economy  in  rent.  And  hall 
bedrooms,  unheated  rooms,  rooms  without  light,  all  come  cheap,  and 
reduce  the  ratio  of  rent  to  income.  If  a  fair  priced  room  is  divided 
among  two  or  more  occupants,  the  cost  to  the  individual  imme- 
diately drops  to  an  amount  that  w'ould  come  far  short  of  paying  for 
adequate  living  conditions  by  itself.  But  this  is  at  a  cost  of  privacy 
and  independence  which  make  it  doubtful  whether  a  large  room 
shared  in  this  way  is  any  more  adequate  than  a  small  unheated  room 
held  in  sole  possession.^  The  tables  show  that  i6  out  of  28  profes- 
sional women  report  no  roommate ;  1 1  report  one  roommate ;  i 
reports  two.  The  clerical  division  shows  only  13  out  of  62  report- 
ing no  roommate;  30  share  their  room  with  one;  19  share  with  two 
or  more.  Sales  girls  in  this  respect  apparently  preserve  a  much  more 
adequate  standard.  Thirty-one  out  of  52  report  a  room  to  them- 
selves; 16  have  one  roommate;  5  have  two  or  more.  Factory 
girls  report  17  out  of  57  living  in  single  rooms,  25  sharing  with  one, 
15  with  two.  The  fact  that  62  per  cent,  of  the  entire  number  of 
women  are  living  two  or  more  in  a  room  adequately  explains  the 
generally  low  average  of  expenditure  for  rent.  The  wear  and  tear 
on  an  individual  is  doubtless  very  much  less  when  she  lives  with 
members  of  her  own  family  and  not  with  strangers.  In  a  total  of 
134  cases  of  girls  not  living  alone  in  their  rooms,  43  live  with  rela- 
tives. 

A  living  w^age  can  perhaps  purchase  nothing  which  is  of 
greater  value  than  the  luxury — which  should  really  be  considered  a 
necessity — of  a  room  to  one's  self.  Sharing  one's  room  is  the  easiest, 
and,  as  the  tables  show,  the  most  common  way,  of  reducing  rent 
expenses.  By  doing  so  a  girl  can  afiford  a  room  that  would  other- 
wise be  beyond  her  means,  in  point  of  size,  warmth,  comfortable 

^See  Tables  3  and  4,  pp.  59,  60. 

^To  the  rent  of  this  class  should  be  added  car  fares  when  suburban  and  city 
rents  are  compared. 

»See  Tables  5  and  6,  pp,  60,  61. 


Rent  53 

furnishing  and  general  good  surroundings,  both  in  the  house  and 
the  quarter  of  the  city  in  which  it  is  situated.  Individual  taste 
varies  in  no  respect  more  than  in  these  details.  Some  women  are 
happier  in  a  cold  attic  room  in  an  attractive  part  of  the  city  than  in 
an  entirely  comfortable  place  where  the  sights  and  sounds  around 
them  and  the  atmosphere  of  the  street  through  which  they  have  to 
pass  are  distasteful.  Others  care  little  about  exterior  surroundings 
that  do  not  touch  thern  directly,  provided  that  they  are  satisfied  with 
their  own  corner. 

The  returns  in  regard  to  neighborhoods  are  unsatisfactory  and 
can  be  classified  in  no  hard-and-fast  manner,  for  the  "goodness" 
or  the  "badness"  of  a  neighborhood,  unless  it  be  extreme,  depends 
largely  upon  the  individual  viewpoint.  The  matter  of  adequate  com- 
forts and  necessities  of  living,  however,  is  more  definite.  In  the 
case  of  women  workers,  whose  nights  for  the  most  part  are  spent 
in  their  own  rooms,  size  is  an  important  item  of  comfort  from  the 
recuperative  standpoint.  The  majority  live  in  small  rooms.^  This 
means,  in  the  city,  hall  bed-rooms,  in  the  suburbs,  rooms  correspond- 
ing more  or  less  in  size  to  the  hall  bed-room.  Eighty-four  report 
living  in  large  rooms;  142  in  small  rooms.  As  the  number  report- 
ing roommates  is  134,  it  is  evident  that  some  among  this  number 
are  sharing  even  small  rooms  with  another  person.  This  is  true 
especially  in  tenements  of  the  West  End.  The  investigator  noted 
one  case  in  which  three  Russian  Jewish  girls  shared  one  tiny  room, 
which  was  barely  large  enough  for  one  double  bed  in  which  the  three 
slept,  a  bureau  and  one  chair.  The  room  contained  one  window, 
looking  out  upon  a  small  court,  and  opened  into  the  common  room 
of  the  family,  which  was  used  for  cooking,  eating,  laundry  and  gen- 
eral living  purposes.  This  was  the  only  case  found  by  the  investi- 
gator of  three  persons  in  one  small  room.  There  were  several  cases, 
however,  in  which  such  a  room  was  shared  by  two  girls. 

The  number  of  rooms  having  no  windows  is  22  out  of  219.^ 
Though  but  a  small  proportion  of  the  rooms  have  no  direct  outside 
ventilation,  the  fact  that  there  are  any  of  this  sort  in  which  girls 
must  sleep  seems  too  barbarous  a  condition  to  be  tolerated.  The 
rents  for  such  rooms  are,  of  course,  very  low.  Sometimes  the 
indirect  supply  of  air  from  windows  in  the  next  room  seems  more 

^The   size  of  the  room   has   been   determined   by   the   Investigator's   opinion   of 
sufficient  or  insufficient  size. 

^See  Tables  7  and  8,  pp.  61,  62. 


54  'TJic  Liz'ing  JVagc  of  J  J' omen  JVorlccrs 

adequate  than  the  direct  ventilation  that  some  rooms  have  from  a 
small  court  on  which  innumerable  other  windows  open.  The  investi- 
gator noted  a  few  cases  in  which  the  windowless  room  opened  by 
large  double  doors  into  a  well-ventilated  room,  and  was  informed 
that  the  problem  was  solved  by  having  these  doors  open  at  night, 
thus  practically  turning  the  apartments  into  one  large  room.  This, 
of  course,  could  be  done  only  when  the  next  room  was  occupied 
either  by  relatives  or  friends  who  were  willing  to  allow  such  a  privi- 
lege. Some  cases  there  were  in  which  the  windowless  room  opened 
into  an  equally  windowless  hallway,  and  had  no  possibility  of  any 
circulation  of  air.  The  majority  of  the  rooms,  however,  have  out- 
side ventilation,  and  but  few  of  them  open  on  a  small  court  or  air- 
shaft.  All  but  65  in  a  total  of  204  report  sunshine  in  their  rooms 
during  some  part  of  the  day.  It  should  be  stated  that  the  investi- 
gator has  dealt  with  but  few  cases  in  the  over-crowded  foreign 
quarters  of  the  city.  Doubtless  an  investigation  of  housing  among 
the  tenement  dwellers  would  reveal  less  encouraging  conditions. 
The  lodging  houses  of  Boston,  however,  so  far  as  the  results  of  this 
investigation  show,  do  not  lack  in  general  for  light  and  air. 

The  matter  of  lighting  is  of  less  importance  than  sun  and  air, 
but  still  is  a  factor  in  the  adequacy  of  a  room.^  The  greater  number 
are  lighted  with  gas.  Of  a  total  of  223  rooms  reported,  only  16  have 
electric  lights;  71  have  kerosene  lamps.  But  the  kind  of  light  is 
comparatively  immaterial.  It  is  the  quantity  and  situation  of  light 
in  the  room  that  is  significant.  On  this  point  the  data  are  not  sat- 
isfactory. Oftentimes,  and  almost  always  in  the  working  girls' 
homes,  the  light  seemed  to  the  investigator  inadequate  for  reading 
or  sewing,  but  was  rarely  the  subject  of  complaint  by  the  occupant 
of  the  room.  Eye-strain  could  quite  as  often  be  accredited  to  poor 
lighting  during  the  day  at  work,  or  to  abuse  of  the  eyes  then,  as  to 
the  small  remote  gas  jets  in  the  room  at  night.  As  a  general  condi- 
tion, however,  the  gas  jets  are  small  and  remote,  entirely  inadequate 
for  more  than  one  occupant  of  a  room,  and  are  almost  never  pro- 
vided with  burners  giving  a  good  light.  In  one  of  the  smaller  work- 
ing girls'  homes  each  room  is  provided  with  a  drop-light,  but  this 
is  rare. 

The  most  important  detail  in  both  the  cost  and  the  comfort  of 
a  room  is  the  amount  of  heat  provided.^     Only  80  of  the  total  of 

iSee  Tables  9  and  10,  pp.  62,  63. 
'Tbid. 


Rent  55 

191  rooms  reported  are  furnace-heated;  17  are  warmed  by  coal 
stoves ;  8  by  oil  stoves ;  86  have  no  heat  whatever.  An  unheated 
room  is  not  so  bad  when  the  woman  can  use  the  rest  of  the  house 
for  general  living  purposes,  but  becomes  a  real  factor  in  physical 
deterioration  when  it  is  used,  as  is  ordinarily  the  case  with  women 
lodgers,  as  a  general  living  room.  In  some  cases  where  the  hallway 
is  heated,  and  the  room  is  specially  sheltered,  or  gets  much  sunshine, 
the  discomfort  is  not  so  great,  except  during  really  severe  weather. 
Complaints  about  cold  rooms  are  rare.  In  general,  however,  un- 
heated rooms,  even  to  one  accustomed  to  cold,  must  be,  if  not  a 
severe  discomfort,  at  least  a  serious  drain  upon  vital  energy. 

Next  in  importance,  if  not  surpassing  the  physical  features  of 
the  room  itself,  come  the  rights  and  privileges  in  the  house.^  When 
there  is  a  bathroom  the  lodger  always  has  the  use  of  it.  In  96 
cases  out  of  226  reported,  the  house  has  no  bathroom.  This  usually 
means  in  a  tenement  or  apartment  building  a  toilet  in  the  hall  used 
in  common  by  all  the  dwellers  on  a  floor  or  in  a  building.  The  toilet 
is  usually  a  tiny  dark  closet  in  the  hall  lighted  artificially,  if  at  all, 
and  almost  totally  unventilated  and  uncleaned. 

The  privilege  of  using  a  parlor  in  the  house  is  of  secondary 
importance.  For  the  occupant  of  an  unheated  room  the  privilege 
may  be  valuable.  The  parlor  is  usually  a  reception  room  in  which 
to  entertain  callers.  This,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  has  less  bearing 
on  the  problem  of  adequate  accommodations,  which  is  one  of  privacy 
and  not  of  etiquette,  than  might  superficially  appear.  The  returns 
show  that  127  out  of  a  total  of  229  have  such  privileges.  This  pro- 
portion is  doubtless  large,  because  of  the  number  of  women  living 
in  homes  for  working  women,  and  in  suburban  private  homes. 

A  privilege  considered  of  primary  importance  by  women  is 
that  of  doing  one's  own  laundry.  Of  232  reporting,  168  have  the 
privilege,  and  many  of  the  64  not  having  it  do  bits  of  laundry  "on 
the  sly."  The  institutions  always  give  this  privilege.  Sometimes 
a  small  charge  of  ten  cents  is  made,  as  at  the  Grey  Nuns'  Home, 
for  the  use  of  heat  for  the  irons.  The  girls  always  buy  their  own 
soap  and  starch.  Laundry  is  expensive,  and  most  women,  even 
when  tired  after  a  hard  day's  work,  would  rather  "earn  the  money" 
themselves  by  doing  their  own  scrubbing  than  pay  it  to  any  one  else. 

The  efifects  of  increase  of  income  upon  housing  conditions  can 

iSee  Tables  11  and  12,  pp.  G3,  64. 


56  The  Living  ]Vagc  of  Women  Jl'orkers 

be  traced  to  some  extent.  The  distribution  according  to  city  or 
suburbs  seems  not  to  be  affected  by  the  wages  earned,  possibly 
because  some  women  earning  low  wages  live  in  the  suburbs  for  the 
reason  that  they  have  work  there,  while  those  receiving  higher 
wages  and  working  in  the  city  have  car  fare  to  pay,  if  they  move 
into  the  suburbs,  which  equalizes  the  difference  between  city  and 
suburban  rent.  An  increase  in  income  evidently  goes  in  part  at 
least  to  securing  a  room  without  a  roommate.  In  the  lowest  wage 
group  between  one- fourth  and  one-fifth  share  their  room  with 
vwre  than  one  roommate.  The  proportion  drops  to  less  than  one- 
fifth  in  the  next  higher  wage  group,  and  in  the  two  highest  wage 
groups  disappears  entirely.  Again,  almost  90  per  cent,  of  the 
number  giving  information  from  the  lowest  wage  group  have  one 
or  more  roommates,  while  less  than  25  per  cent,  of  the  highest 
wage  group  have  roommates.  Evidently  a  value  is  set  upon  having 
a  room  to  one's  self,  and  roommates  are  not  in  general  chosen 
because  of  the  companionship  which  they  afford. 

The  size  of  the  room  is  apparently  of  lesser  importance.  No 
very  marked  variation  in  this  occurs  between  the  lowest  and  highest 
wage  groups.  In  the  matter  of  ventilation,  the  two  highest  wage 
groups  do  not  report  any  windowless  rooms,  but  the  number  of 
windows,  apparently,  does  not  vary  with  the  different  groups.  This 
is  probably  because  the  low-paid  girl  can  have  a  large  room  with 
more  than  one  window  by  sharing  it  with  one  or  more  other  girls, 
while  the  high-wage  girl  who  can  afford  a  room  alone  has  to  con- 
tent herself  with  a  room  of  smaller  dimensions.  The  proportion 
of  sunny  rooms  rises  directly  with  the  increase  of  income,  being 
valued  evidently  next  to  privacy.  The  proportion  using  kerosene 
lamps  for  light  decreases  with  increasing  wages,  though  always, 
excepting  in  the  lowest  wage  group,  gas  predominates.  The  per- 
centage having  no  heat  is  another  detail  that  decreases  steadily  with 
increasing  wages. 

It  appears  that  the  chief  advantages  which  the  girl  on  higher 
wages  gains  by  her  ability  to  pay  higher  rent  are  a  room  to  herself, 
heat  of  some  sort  and  sunshine.  These  advantages  come  to  the 
majority  only  when  the  wage  has  reached  at  least  $9. 

It  is  somewhat  astonishing  to  discover  the  large  proportion  of 
women  who  are  unable  to  secure  the  advantages  of  privacy  through 
rooming  alone  and  the  social  amenity  of  an  opportunity  to  receive 


Rent  57 

callers  outside  of  their  own  room,  while  from  the  point  of  view  of 
health  the  number  who  live  in  unheated  rooms  presents  a  serious 
factor.  Forty-five  per  cent,  of  those  who  reported  are  thus  seen 
to  be  forced  to  meet  the  dangers  to  health  which  may  come  from 
an  unheated  living  room.  On  the  other  hand,  even  including  the 
privileges  of  a  reception  room  which  come  through  the  working 
girls'  homes,  about  35  per  cent,  are  forced  either  to  surrender  the 
privileges  and  pleasures  of  social  relationship  with  men,  or  to  over- 
step the  boundaries  of  conventionality.  Here  then,  may  be  found 
the  fundamental  basis  for  the  lack  of  certain  social  properties  and 
even  moralities  on  the  part  of  our  working  girls.  With  cold  rooms, 
with  no  opportunities  to  receive  guests  and  without  the  privacy  even 
of  a  single  room  fully  35  per  cent,  of  our  working  girls,  if  these 
proportions  may  be  considered  typical,  are  in  danger  of  overstepping 
social  and  moral  law.  These  conditions  may  be  distinctly  traced  not 
only  to  the  inadequate  wage  which  our  working  women  receive,  but 
to  our  efifete  laws  which  have  failed  to  keep  pace  with  the  changing 
conditions  of  home  environment  on  the  part  of  such  a  large  group 
of  its  working  citizens.  Furthermore,  poor  economy  is  presented  in 
the  makeshift  housing  opportunities  offered  by  the  average  landlady 
who,  with  little  capital  and  no  ability,  is  endeavoring  to  make  her 
living  in  the  face  of  a  landlord  ignorant  of  how  to  equip  his  tene- 
ment so  as  to  receive  a  good  return  or  to  give  adequate 
accommodations. 

It  is  important,  finally,  to  discover  in  the  case  of  the  girl  living 
at  home  the  amount  paid  per  week  and  how  many  of  the  essential 
expenses  of  living  it  provides.^  The  headings  in  the  tables  rep- 
resent only  the  more  obvious  necessities.  Much  more  in  the  way 
of  service  and  privileges,  both  trifling  and  important,  comes  to  the 
girl  living  in  a  family  than  can  possibly  be  classified  or  analyzed. 
It  is  also  true  that  the  girl  so  living  gives  to  the  family  much  more 
than  the  value  of  her  weekly  payments.  She  has  often  the  place 
of  a  daughter  in  the  house,  even  when  the  family  is  not  her  own, 
and  with  this  place  go  duties  and  responsibilities  as  well  as  privi- 
leges. She  usually  helps  with  the  housework,  the  family  cooking 
and  cleaning,  the  laundry  and  sewing.  These  duties,  coming  outside 
of  her  regular  working  day,  are  as  truly  "secondary  work"  as  the 
cooking,  laundry  and  cleaning  that  the  girl  by  herself  in  lodgings 
does  to  make  ends  meet,  and  differ  but  little  in  effect   from  the 

^See  Table  18,  p.  64. 


SS  The  Living  Wage  of  Women  JVorkers 

evening  and  holiday  sewing,  typewriting,  or  table  waiting  that  other 
girls  do  in  order  to  have  their  cooking  and  laundry  done  for  them. 
Oftentimes,  however,  these  duties  are  not  required,  wdiile,  on  the 
other  hand,  many  extra  services  are  included  in  the  relatively  small 
weekly  payment  for  lodging.  The  housework  is  all  done  for  her, 
her  room  is  cared  for,  her  laundry  and  mending  done,  sometimes  her 
sewing  as  well.  The  working  girl  in  a  home  like  this  is  fortunate, 
indeed,  for  much  of  the  physical  and  mental  strain  of  self-support 
is  lifted  from  her  shoulders  and  she  is  relieved  of  the  hardest  part 
of  the  struggle  of  earning  her  living. 

It  appears  that  in  all  cases  in  which  information  was  obtained 
the  weekly  amount  of  $3.06  to  $6.43  pays  for  board  and,  in  all  but 
one  case,  for  room ;  in  59  out  of  73  cases  it  pays  for  laundry ;  in  24 
out  of  70,  for  clothing ;  and  in  46  out  of  67,  for  mending.  In  pos- 
sibly 25  per  cent,  of  the  cases  the  average  payment  of  $4.63  per 
week  pays  practically  all  the  necessary  expenses.  The  average 
earnings  of  this  group  are  $7.76  per  week. 

Among  the  girls  on  low  wages  some  give  their  services  in  entire 
payment  of  room  and  board,  many  make  a  regular  bargain  of  pay- 
ment in  part  money  and  part  service,  and  others  contribute  their 
services  in  return  for  the  many  extra  comforts  of  their  life.  Only 
13  out  of  85  cases  giving  this  information  report  no  household 
duties.  In  60  cases  it  is  possible  that  the  girl  is  working  either  for 
the  sake  of  spending  money  or  to  help  somewhat  toward  her  own 
support.  In  the  greater  number  of  cases,  however,  the  payment 
covers  only  board  and  room,  frequently  laundry,  and  sometimes  the 
small  but  important  service  of  mending.  It  is  perhaps  a  fair 
amount  to  pay  for  board  and  room  when  the  cost  to  the  family 
of  the  extra  person  is  considered.  But  the  home  privileges  which 
go  with  it  cannot  be  purchased  in  a  lodging  house  or  restaurant  for 
any  price,  and  it  is  the  privileges  that  make  this  kind  of  living  real 
economy  to  the  w^oman  worker,  freedom  beyond  the  four  walls  of 
one  room,  social  companionship  and  variety  of  diet  and  living.  As 
these  privileges  are  w^orth  more  than  money  to  her,  so  she  pays 
for  them  not  with  money  but  with  her  own  service. 


Rent 


59 


TABLE  I. — Average  Annual  Expenditures  for  Rent, 
BY  Occupation. 


Average  income. 

Average  expenditure  for  rent. 

Occupation. 

Amount. 

Percentage  of 
income. 

Professional 

$695.41 
499-59 
357-34 
382.37 
364.42 

342.30 

$80.33 
82.73 
79.70 
55-76 
53-29 
82.17 

11-55 
16.56 
22.30 
14.58 
14.62 
24.00 

Clerical 

Sales 

Factory 

Waitresses 

JCitchen  workers 

TABLE  2. — Average  Annual  Expenditure,  for  Rent, 
BY  Wage  Groups. 


Wage. 


$3.00 
4.00 
5  .00 
6.00  1 
7.00   J- 
8.00  J 
9.00 

10.00 

11  .00 

12  .00 
13.00 
14.00 
15.00 

and 
over 


Average  income. 


S231.36 
350-15 
493-54 
629. 28 
885.31 


Average  expenditure  for  rent. 


Amount. 


$49-87 
71-83 
74-81 
93.66 

"5-59 


Percentage  of 
income. 


21.56 
20.51 
15.16 
14.88 
13.06 


TABLE  3. — Extent  of  Suburban  Residence,  by  Occupation. 

Occupation. 

Number 

reporting  place 

of  residence. 

Number  living 
in  city. 

Number  living 
in  suburbs. 

Professional 

22 
61 
60 
71 

7 
12 

15 
36 
44 
43 
5 
8 

7 
25 
16 
28 

Clerical 

Sales 

Factory 

Waitresses 

Kitchen  workers 

4 

Total 

233 

151 

82 

6o  The  Lk-ing  JVagc  of  Women  Workers 

TABLE  4. — Extent  op  Suburban  Residence,  by  Wage  Groups. 


Wage. 


Number 

reporting  place 

of  residence. 


Number  living 
in  city. 


Number  living 
in  suburbs. 


♦3.00 
4.00 
5.00 
6.00 

7 .00 

S.oo 

9.00 
10.00 
II  .00 
12.00  1 
13.00  > 
14.00  J 

15. CO 

and 
over 

Total 


125 

77 

15 

9 


244 


76 
43 


145 


7 
49 
34 

7 


99 


TABLE  5 

— Number  of  Roommates,  by  Occupation. 

Occupation. 

Total 
number 
reporting 
number 
room- 
mates. 

Number 
reporting 
I  room- 
mate. 

Number 
reporting 
2  or  more 
room- 
mates. 

Number 
reporting 
no  room- 
mate. 

Number 
reporting 
room- 
mate 
relative. 

Number 
reporting 

room- 
mate not  a 

relative. 

Professional 

Clerical 

Sales 

Factory 

Waitresses 

Kitchen  workers . .  . 

28 
62 

52 

57 

4 

12 

II 

30 
16 

25 
2 

5 

I 
19 

5 

15 

2 

3 

16 

13 

31 

17 

0 

4 

4 
14 
10 

0 

I 
4 

8 

38 

II 

0 

3 

4 

Total 

215 

89 

45 

81 

43 

64 

Rent 
TABLE  6. — Number  of  Roommates,  by  Wage  Groups. 


6i 


Wage. 

Total 
number 
reporting 
number 
of  room- 
mates. 

Number 
reporting 
I  room- 
mate. 

Number 
reporting 
2  or  more 
room- 
mates. 

Number 
reporting 
no  room- 
mate. 

Number 
reporting 
room- 
mate a 
relative. 

Number 
reporting 

room- 
mate not  a 

relative. 

$3-°°  1 
4 .  oo   \ 

18 

106 

62 

IS 

13 

12 

42 

22 

9 

5 

4 
20 

S 
0 
0 

2 

44 

3S 

6 

8 

10 
28 

IS 
2 
0 

6 

5.00  J 
6.00  "1 
7  .  00   /■ 

34 
12 

8.00  J 
9.00  1 
10 . 00   \ 

II .00  J 
12 .00  1 

I'i .00  y 

7 
S 

14.00  J 
15.00  1 
and     \ 

over  J 

Total 

214 

90 

29 

95 

55 

64 

TABLE  7. — Size  of  Room  and  Exterior  Light,  by  Occupation. 


Occupation. 

Size  of  room. 

Windows. 

Sunlight.' 

Large. 

Small. 

One. 

Two  or 
more. 

None. 

Yes. 

No. 

Professional 

II 

22 

16 

25 

4 

6 

18 
39 
39 
39 

I 
6 

16 

32 
27 

32 
2 
6 

II 
22 
23 
19 
3 
4 

2 
8 

4 
6 
0 
2 

21 
40 
32 
35 
3 
8 

6 

21 
19 

IS 
0 

4 

Clerical 

Sales 

Factory 

Waitresses 

Kitchen  workers 

Total 

84 

142 

115 

82 

22 

139 

65 

62  The  Liznng  JVagc  of  IVovxcn  Workers 

TABLE  8. — Size  of  Room  and  Exterior  Light,  by  Wage  Groups. 


Wage. 

Size  of  room. 

Windows. 

Sunlight. 

Large. 

Small. 

One. 

Two  or 
more. 

None. 

Yes. 

No. 

%3■oo^ 
4 .  oo  > 

6 
34 

5 
8 

10 
82 
45 
13 
14 

6 

53 

33 

7 

10 

9 

45 

21 

8 

6 

I 
12 

9 
0 
0 

10 
69 
44 
II 
8 

5 
30 
16 

5.00J 
6.00  "1 
7  .00  \ 

S.ooJ 
9.00] 
10 . 00  >  

II .00  I 
12.00  1 
i^ .00  S  

3 
8 

14.00  J 
1S.00I 
and     > 

over  J 

Total 

72 

164 

109 

89 

22 

142 

62 

TABLE  9. — Artificial  Light  and  Heat,  by  Occupation. 


Light. 

Heat. 

Occupation. 

Gas. 

Elec- 
tricity. 

Kero- 
sene. 

Furnace. 

Coal 
stove. 

Oil 

stove. 

No 
heat. 

Professional 

Clerical 

18 
34 
39 
39 
4 
2 

0 

13 
2 
0 
0 

I 

10 
15 
14 

23 
0 

9 

13 
25 
20 
18 
2 

2 

4 
3 
3 
2 

I 
4 

0 
0 
6 

0 

r 
I 

6 
1 2 

Sales 

23 
39 

Factory 

Waitresses 

Kitchen  workers 

5 

Total 

136 

16 

71 

80 

17 

8 

86 

Rent  63 

TABLE  10. — Artificial  Light  and  Heat,  by  Wage  Groups. 


Wage. 


$3- 00 

4.00 

5.00 

6.00 

7 .00 

8.00  J 

9.00 
10.00 
II  .00 
12 .00 
13.00 
14.00 
15.00 

and 

over 

Total 


Gas. 


7 
74 
38 
14 


144 


Light. 


Elec- 
tricity. 


Kero- 
sene. 


9 

32 
21 

5 
3 


70 


Furnace. 


40 


24 


87 


Heat. 


Coal 
stove. 


Oil 
stove. 


No 
heat. 


57 
16 


86 


TABLE  II. — House  Privileges,  by  Occupation. 


Occupation. 

Professional 

Clerical 

Sales 

Factory 

Waitresses 

Kitchen  workers. . . 

Total 


Use  of  bathroom. 


Yes. 


17 
46 
34 
21 

5 
7 


130 


No. 


12 
18 


40 


96 


Use  of  parlor. 


Yes. 


50 
21 

31 
3 
4 


127 


No. 


10 
19 
34 
29 


Laundry 
privileges. 


Yes. 


19 
51 
36 
49 
4 
9 


168 


No. 


9 
16 

19 
16 


64 


64  The  Lk'iiig  IVage  of  IVonicn  Workers 

TABLE  12. — House  Privileges,  by  Wage  Groups. 


Wage. 


Use  of  bathroom. 


Yes. 


No. 


Use  of  parlor. 


Yes. 


No. 


Laundry 
privileges. 


Yes. 


No. 


$3.00 
4.00 
5-00  . 
6.00  1 
7.00  }■ 
8.00  J 
9.00 

10.00 

11  .00 

12  .00 
13.00 
14.00 
15.00 

and  .' 
over 


Total . 


69 

33 
16 


47 


28 


32 


56 
33 

5 
5 


130 


80 


124 


105 


80 


43 


161 


3 

31 


64 


TABLE  13. — Contributions  to  Support  of  Family  by  Women  Workers 

Living  at  Home. 


Wage. 

Average 

amount 

paid  per 

week. 

Percentage 
of  income. 

Number 
pay  for 

Pay  for 
laundry. 

Pay  for 
clothes. 

Pay  for 
mending. 

0 
03 

B 
0 
0 

oi 

Yes. 

No. 

Yes. 

No. 

Yes. 

No. 

$3.00  ■ 

4.00   > 

5-00  . 

6.00  1 

7.00  1 

8.00  J 

9.00  ] 

10.00   f 

II .00  J 
12.00  ] 

13-00   [ 

14.00  J 
15.00  1 

' and     } 

over'  J 

$3.06 
4-45 
6.43 
4-33 
4.01 

68.78 
66.08 
67-75 
35-78 
23-55 

10 
41 
17 

7 
4 

1 1 

44 

17 

7 

3 

5 
31 

15 
7 

I 

3 
7 

2 
0 
2 

4 
13 

7 
c 
0 

4 

22 

11 

6 

3 

6 

23 

13 

3 

I 

2 
10 

5 
3 

I 

Total 

79 

82 

59 

14 

24 

46 

46 

21 

CHAPTER   VI 

CLOTHING 

There  is  a  widespread  notion  that  the  working  girl  spends  her 
money  largely  on  clothes.  A  group  of  shop  girls  was  heard  dis- 
cussing their  reputation  for  extravagance  in  this  respect  with  a 
certain  amount  of  indignation.  "I  know  why  people  think  that  of 
us,"  said  one.  "It  is  because  the  less  money  you  have  to  spend  on 
clothes  the  less  you  can  afford  'plain'  things.  In  underclothes,  for 
instance,  the  very  cheapest  things  are  loaded  with  ugly  coarse  lace, 
and  this  is  true  of  hats,  suits  and  all  kinds  of  clothes,  so  we  often 
look  as  if  we  were  extravagant  and  trying  to  be  showy  when  really 
we  haven't  the  money  to  buy  something  a  little  better  in  quality, 
much  better  in  taste,  and  a  lot  more  durable.  These  people  who 
make  that  criticism  only  see  that  the  plain  things  which  they  look  at 
are  cheaper  than  the  trimmed.  They  don't  know  that  there  are  still 
cheaper  things,  which  they  don't  even  see,  that  we  have  to  buy, 
whether  they  offend  our  taste  or  not." 

There  is  doubtless  some  truth  in  this  statement,  and  there  is 
also  an  element  of  human  nature,  a  longing  for  something  bright 
and  pretty  at  the  expense  of  wise  selection.  A  newspaper  account 
of  one  shop  girl's  experience  contains  a  story  in  point:  "And  for  a 
best  waist,"  said  the  girl,  *T  just  went  and  got  what  I  wanted.  It  was 
pink  silk  with  black  buttons  on  it.  I  felt  as  if  I  couldn't  live  without 
it,  and  I  paid  $5.  It  didn't  last  but  four  or  five  times'  wear,  and 
then  it  began  to  crack.  I  could  just  have  cried  when  I  saw  that 
crack,  for  I  knew  I  wouldn't  get  another  nice  waist  for  one  while, 
and  I  was  so  afraid  I  would  have  to  wear  those  awful  black  things 
to  church.  But  I  don't  think  I  could  have  stood  it  not  to  get  that  pink 
waist."  The  next  year,  having  learned  wisdom  with  experience,  she 
bought  four  yards  of  white  Danish  cloth  for  sixty  cents,  made  a 
waist  herself,  and  trimmed  it  with  red  French  knots  which  cost 
five  cents. 

The  results  of  this  investigation  certainly  do  not  support  the 
common  opinion  regarding  the  working  girl's  extravagance  in  the 
matter  of  dress.  On  the  contrary,  it  appears  that,  as  a  rule,  in  the 
long  year-in-year-out  run,  with  the  individual  and  with  the  group, 

(6s) 


66  The  LicHiig  JVagc  of  lJ^o)ncn  Workers 

only  so  much  of  the  weekly  earnings  as  is  left  after  almost  everything 
else  is  bought  goes  for  really  necessary  clothing.  Of  course,  there  are 
cases  of  unwise  and  ill-judged  purchases.  But  the  woman  worker 
on  low  wages,  while  she  may  sacrifice  comfort  to  appearance  occa- 
sionally, has  not  so  many  comforts  that  she  can  easily  dispense  with 
any  of  them.  It  is  true  that,  with  an  increase  in  earnings,  money 
which  might  possibly  be  saved  may  often  be  spent  on  extending  the 
wardrobe — "improving  the  standard  of  dress." 

This  tendency  is  not,  however,  necessarily  culpable.  To  any 
one  who  has  been  in  contact  with  many  working  women  the  state- 
ment that  "it  pays  to  dress  well"  must  have  a  familiar  sound.  It  is, 
indeed,  so  universally  accepted  a  conclusion  that  one  is  forced  to 
believe  that  there  must  be  at  least  some  truth  in  it.  Many  women 
affirm  that  good  clothes  are  absolutely  necessary  in  getting  a  posi- 
tion, useful  in  holding  it,  and  valuable  in  securing  promotion;  and 
many  in  unquestionable  sincerity  devote  capital  or  credit  to  the 
purchase  of  "something  decent"  when  they  go  the  rounds  of  the 
employment  bureaus.  In  a  discussion  of  wise  principles  of  living  in 
one  of  the  working  girls'  clubs  of  Boston  one  of  the  points  empha- 
sized was  this :  "The  necessity  of  considering  dress  first,  because 
your  position  depends  on  dress."  One  woman  earning  $8  a  week  as 
saleswoman  writes  on  her  schedule :  "Every  cent  aside  from  my 
living  expenses  has  been  invested  in  clothes.  A  poorly  clad  sales- 
woman draws  a  small  salary  and  often  finds  it  hard  to  obtain  a 
position.  I  have  proved  to  my  own  satisfaction  that  an  up-to-date 
toilet  goes  a  great  way  in  securing  and  holding  a  position.  A  girl 
must  be  well  and  stylishly  dressed,  and,  consequently,  she  has  to 
scrimp  on  other  things."  And  then  she  adds:  "Clothes  seem  to 
'make  the  man'  in  the  drygoods  business,  certainly." 

This  woman's  schedule,  however,  shows  that  she  does  not 
"scrimp"  to  the  extent  of  denying  herself  many  things  necessary 
for  health  or  reasonable  comfort.  She  lives  in  a  suburb  where 
pleasant  rooms  are  to  be  had  for  comparatively  little.  The  cost 
of  rent  is  $1.50  per  week,  and  she  describes  her  room  as  large,  with 
two  windows,  lighted  with  gas,  furnished  with  a  couch,  chiffonier, 
reading  table,  Morris  chair,  rocker,  window  seat  and  four  rugs. 
Her  car  fares  cost  sixty  cents  per  week  to  and  from  work ;  her 
lunches,  twenty-five  cents  per  day.  She  is  fortunate  in  having  very 
good  breakfasts  and  suppers  with  her  mother,  who  lives  near,  at 


Clothing  67 

the  cost  merely  of  butter,  eggs  and  fruit,  which  amounts  to  $1  per 
week.  Her  mother  also  does  her  laundry  for  her.  For  illness  she 
has  the  "store  doctor"  of  the  department  store  where  she  works 
with  no  charge.  Medicine  cost  $3  and  dentistry  $35.  She  spent 
$10  for  pleasure,  $2.60  for  insurance,  $5  for  support  of  others  and 
$10  for  gifts.  Incidentals  amounted  to  $9  and  she  saved  $14.50. 
What  remained  for  clothes  after  these  expenses  were  paid  was  less 
than  $90 — certainly  no  extravagant  sum.  The  woman  notes  that 
without  help  from  her  mother  she  could  not  have  lived  on  her  salary. 
Doubtless  she  would  have  lived  on  it,  but  at  the  sacrifice  of  some  of 
the  expenditures  that  she  now  considers  necessary. 

Concerning  installment  buying,  opinions  are  many  and  various. 
The  majority  of  the  women  condemn  it  as  a  bad  plan,  but  recognize 
it  as  a  necessity  for  some  people  under  certain  conditions.  One 
woman,  for  example,  states  that  she  has  a  young  son  to  provide  for 
and  that  she  is  obliged  to  resort  to  installment  buying  very  often. 
She  knows  a  firm  on  whose  credit  she  can  buy  at  all  the  stores, 
paying  them  the  per  cent,  on  the  amount  of  her  purchases  for  the 
credit.  Consequently  she  is  almost  never  out  of  debt.  Most  working 
women  see  clearly  the  lack  of  economy  of  credit  buying  as  well  as 
the  danger  to  morals.  Very  few  would  resort  to  this  practice  from 
choice.  In  general,  it  is  regarded  as  a  necessary  hardship,  forced 
upon  the  poor  in  all  kinds  of  buying,  in  the  case  of  provisions, 
fuel,  furniture,  even  insurance,  as  well  as  clothing.  The  cause  back 
of  it  all  is  insufficient  capital. 

It  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  fix  upon  any  common 
standard  of  clothing  for  women  workers.  The  various  occupations 
involve  very  different  requirements  as  regards  dress.  Individual 
taste  also  varies  widely.  The  faculty  of  economy  or  "managing" 
ability  is  equally  variable.  Personal  differences  in  respect  to  taste 
and  economy  are  evident  in  all  expenditures,  but  nowhere  perhaps 
to  a  greater  extent  than  in  the  outlay  for  clothing.  One  woman, 
for  example,  lived  for  seventeen  weeks  while  out  of  work  on  $47, 
and  bought  at  the  same  time  her  entire  winter  wardrobe  for  $7.56. 
The  latter  consisted  of  the  following  articles : 

I  blue  serge  suit — coat  and  skirt $2.00 

I  black  cloth  skirt    1.43 

I  wool  dress  2.50 

I  warm  winter  jacket   75 


68  The  Lknng  Wage  of  Women  Workers 

1  hat   05 

3  belts     03 

2  yards  of   veiling    05 

I  pair  of  shoes   50 

I  pair  of  rubbers 25 

Total    $7.56 

Of  course,  the  woman  made  all  these  things  herself,  mostly 
by  hand,  since  she  had  no  machine  and  could  only  borrow  the  use 
of  one  occasionally.  Training  as  lady's  maid  and  seamstress,  which 
she  had  had  in  her  younger  days,  stood  her  in  good  stead,  and  bits 
of  material  bought  at  bargain  sales  went  a  long  way  under  her 
contriving  fingers.  A  bunch  of  wire  for  two  cents,  and  a  large 
bunch  of  old-fashioned  chenille  for  three  cents  were  worked  up 
into-  a  really  presentable  hat.  A  bit  of  heavy  material  here,  and  a 
shop-worn  or  damaged  remnant  there,  made  her  a  coat,  a  suit  and 
a  dress.  No  woman  in  a  regular  position  would  be  able  thus  to 
work  for  her  clothes.  The  case  is  an  extreme  example  of  that  pos- 
sibility of  getting  much  for  little  money  by  adding  to  cash,  time, 
work  and  cleverness,  which  makes  expenditures  for  clothes  so 
variable. 

One  woman  says  that  she  seldom  buys  anything,  because  her 
old  clothes  can  be  made  over  and  over  and  with  care  practically 
never  wear  out.  Another  woman  states  her  problem  simply:  "I 
buy  what  I  can,  and  go  without  what  I  need."  One  young  girl,  who 
has  been  on  her  own  resources  since  childhood  and  never  earned 
over  $5,  when  asked  how  she  could  dress  for  a  year  on  $10,  replied 
that  when  her  clothes  were  worn  out  she  simply  had  to  hold  on  to 
them  and  make  them  last  longer.  Many  exhibit  their  wardrobes  with 
much  pride  as  they  tell  of  various  methods  of  economizing.  Buying 
out  of  season  and  watching  for  bargain  sales  are  the  chiefest  of 
these.  Shop  girls  have  the  advantage  here,  since  they  are  on  the 
"inside  track."  In  some  stores  the  girls  are  allowed  a  certain 
amount  of  time  away  from  their  counters  for  shopping  in  the  store 
during  the  part  of  the  day  when  there  are  not  many  customers.  One 
saleswoman  bought  a  very  good  heavy  coat,  when  the  store  was 
anxious  to  get  the  winter  stock  cleaned  out  in  the  spring,  for  98 
cents.  She  bought  a  rain  coat  for  $1.98  from  stock  which  she  her- 
self had  sold  for  $8.  A  neat  gray  skirt,  which  she  wore  all  summer, 
cost  her  98  cents.     Many  stores  give  a  discount  to  their  employes. 


Clothing  69 

This  discount  is  usually  from  5  to  10  per  cent.,  and  is  sometimes 
greater  for  goods  to  be  worn  in  the  store,  on  the  principle  possibly 
that  a  certain  rather  high  standard  of  dress  is  required  of  the  sales 
girl.  Credit  is  allowed  by  some  stores  for  a  limited  time,  two  weeks 
or  a  month.  The  penalty  for  not  paying  up  on  time  is  forfeiture 
of  the  privilege  of  buying  on  credit.  In  shoe  factories  and  rubber 
factories  the  girls  often  can  buy  "at  cost." 

While  there  are  possibilities  of  economy  for  sales  girls,  there 
are,  on  the  other  hand,  rather  high  requirements  and  a  tendency  to 
even  higher  ambitions  for  good  dressing.  Sometimes  white  waists 
are  required,  sometimes  black.  Even  when  no  definite  require- 
ments are  laid  down,  a  neat  and  attractive  appearance  is  demanded. 
It  is  almost  a  superstition  with  the  sales  girl  that  the  greatest  show 
of  up-to-dateness  makes  the  largest  number  of  sales,  and  hence  is 
the  making  of  a  valuable  saleswoman.  Whether  this  be  true  or  not, 
need  not  be  discussed  here.  Its  effect  on  the  account  book  is  seen 
in  the  many  entries  for  the  latest  novelty  in  neckwear  or  in  coiffure, 
as  well  as  for  skirts  and  shirt  waists. 

Clerical  and  professional  women,  for  the  most  part,  also  recog- 
nize the  necessity  of  good  clothes  and  attractive  appearance.  Wait- 
resses usually  have  to  provide  themselves  with  a  definite  uniform, 
which,  however,  does  not  vary  so  much  from  place  to  place  that 
new  outfits  have  to  be  purchased  at  every  change.  It  merely  re- 
quires a  small  investment  to  begin  with.  The  investigator's  position 
in  a  good  summer  hotel  called  for  black  dresses  with  small  aprons 
for  breakfast  and  lunch,  and  white  dresses  with  bib  aprons  for 
dinner.  The  aprons  had  to  be  absolutely  uniform  and  were  sold 
to  the  girls  by  the  hotel  "at  cost" ;  that  is,  seventy-five  cents  each 
for  the  large  and  fifty  cents  for  the  small  aprons.  Waitresses  were 
required  also  to  do  their  own  laundry.  The  writer's  own  outfit  cost 
fifteen  dollars.  Probably  most  girls  would  have  at  least  some  of 
the  articles  already  in  her  wardrobe,  so  that  the  cost  would  not  be 
so  great.  But  those  whose  wardrobes  are  the  barest  are  the  very 
ones  who  would  find  it  most  difiicult  to  raise  this  amount. 

Unless  it  be  scrubwomen  and  cleaners,  factory  girls  have  the 
least  required  of  them  in  the  matter  of  dress.  The  work  is  often- 
times so  dirty  that  the  girls  cannot  wear  street  clothes  to  work  in, 
but  keep  cast-off  clothing  at  the  factory  and  change  before  and  after 
work.     In  a  box  factory  the  girls  are  so  completely  smeared  with 


70  The  Living  Wage  of  Women  Workers 

paste  and  whatever  adheres  to  it  that  it  is  frequently  hard  to  make 
any  guess  as  to  the  fabric  underneath.  Since  those  who  do  the 
dirtier  part  of  the  work  cannot  dress  up  to  a  standard,  those  having 
cleaner  work  do  not  feel  obliged  to  wear  good  clothes. 

In  general,  then,  higher  standards  of  dress  are  maintained  by 
workers  in  occupations  that  bring  them  into  direct  contact  with  the 
public ;  and  this  either  voluntarily  or  by  order  of  the  employer.  The 
lower  standard  of  dress  prevails  among  those  who  work  behind  "no 
admittance"  signs,  A  further  generalization,  not  without  its  excep- 
tions, is  that  the  higher  dress  requirements  are  found  in  the  occu- 
pations that  pay  the  higher  rates  of  wages. 

The  matter  of  laundry  is  a  hard  problem  for  the  w^orking 
woman.  A  girl  who  worked  her  w^ay  through  college  by  all  kinds 
of  outside  work  once  called  it  the  last  straw.  'T  don't  mind  w^aiting 
on  table,"  she  said,  "or  doing  copying,  or  other  people's  mending,  or 
collecting  bills,  but  that  everlasting  draw^er  of  laundry  to  be  done 
which  never  stays  done  wears  me  out." 

Many  women  spend  their  evenings,  holidays  and  even  Sundays 
over  the  tub  and  ironing  board.  On  the  whole,  laundry  is  an  expen- 
sive item. — expensive  either  of  time  and  strength  or  of  money.  It 
means  at  least  two  evenings  a  week,  or,  at  most,  every  evening  when 
done  at  home.  When  it  cannot  be  done  at  home,  either  because  the 
rules  of  the  house  forbid  it,  or  because  of  lack  of  facilities,  the 
cost  can  hardly  be  kept  below  fifty  cents  a  week  by  the  greatest 
care,  and  very  easily  increases  to  double  or  several  times  that 
amount.  Only  39  women  report  doing  none  of  their  ow^n  laundry; 
127  report  doing  part  or  all.  Clerical  women,  waitresses  and  factory 
workers  pay  about  the  same  yearly  amount.  Kitchen  w^orkers  pay 
the  highest  amount,  partly,  perhaps,  because  they  are  frequently 
required  to  wear  a  washable  uniform,  but  chiefly,  doubtless,  because 
they  pay  the  laundry  bills  of  those  dependent  on  them  at  home 
together  with  their  own,  so  that  part  of  their  laundry  bill,  if  it 
were  possible  to  separate  it,  belongs  under  expenses  for  the  support 
of  others.  Professional  women  pay  almost  as  much  as  kitchen 
workers ;  sales  girls  pay  the  least.  Also  the  largest  percentage  of 
sales  girls  and  the  smallest  percentage  of  waitresses  do  their  own 
laundry.  Sales  girls  and  clerical  women  pay  the  smallest  per- 
centage of  income  for  laundry,  kitchen  workers  the  highest,  other 
classes  about  the  same  proportion  of  income. 


Clothing  71 

In  general,  the  management  of  the  clothing  problem  is,  for  the 
low-paid  woman,  a  severe  tax  on  her  physical  or  financial  resource. 
Either  she  must  spend  much  ill-spared  energy  in  hunting  marked- 
down  goods  that  will  serve  her  purpose  and  in  making  them  up, 
or  she  must  resort  to  the  extravagant  method  of  buying  on  the 
installment  plan  or  the  equally  extravagant  course  of  buying  very 
cheap  clothes  which  do  not  last.  Of  course,  the  woman  who  is 
exceptionally  clever  in  remodeling  old  clothes  and  making  them 
last,  and  the  woman  who  is  in  a  position  that  affords  unusual  oppor- 
tunities of  buying  goods  at  a  reduction,  find  this  problem  less 
troublesome.  But  the  average  working  girl  on  low  wages  is  hard 
pressed  to  keep  up  appearances.  The  only  saving  feature  of  the 
situation  is  the  fact  that  the  need  of  new  clothing  is  not  so  impera- 
tive as  that  of  food  or  lodging.  It  is,  fortunately,  a  demand  that 
can  be  postponed  under  pressure. 

A  theoretical  ranking  of  the  occupations  in  respect  to  expendi- 
ture for  clothing,  as  determined  by  their  respective  requirements  in 
the  matter  of  dress,  has  been  suggested  in  the  foregoing  discussion. 
At  one  extreme  of  this  scale  stands  the  sales  girl,  with  high  occu- 
pational standards ;  at  the  other,  the  factory  worker,  with  compara- 
tively low  requirements.  The  facts  regarding  the  expenditure  for 
clothing,  as  set  forth  in  the  tables  embodying  the  results  of  this 
investigation,  show,  however,  a  striking  departure  from  this 
hypothetical  order  in  the  case  of  the  factory  worker.^  Her  actual 
expenditure  for  clothing  is  larger  than  that  of  any  other  class  of 
workers,  except  professional  women.  The  latter  pay  by  far  the 
largest  amount  for  clothing.  Clerical  workers  come  next,  closely 
followed  by  sales  girls.  Waitresses  spend  about  four-fifths  as 
much  as  clerical  workers  and  sales  girls,  while  kitchen  workers 
spend  only  two-fifths  of  that  amount.  The  factory  worker  spends 
a  little  more  for  clothes  than  does  the  clerical  worker,  although  her 
income  is  about  23  per  cent.  less.  A  striking  fact  is  that  the  actual 
amount  expended  for  clothing  by  all  classes  below  the  professional 
worker  is  practically  the  same,  with  the  exception  of  the  sheltered 
workers,  the  waitresses  and  kitchen  workers. 

In  the  proportion  of  income  expended  for  clothes,  the  order  is 
diflferent.  The  sales  girl  spends  the  largest  proportion — 19.14  per 
cent.  The  fact  that  the  sales  girl  has  the  greatest  opportunity  for 
buying  her  wardrobe  at  a  reduction  gives  to  this  large  percentage 

iSee  Table  1,  p.  74. 


72  The  Ln'i)tg  IVage  of  Women  Workers 

added  significance.  The  factory  worker  is  not  far  behind,  with 
18.49  P^^  cent.  The  waitress,  with  15.87  per  cent.,  stands  slightly 
ahead  of  the  clerical  woman,  with  14.10  per  cent.  The  kitchen 
worker  is  far  in  the  rear  of  all,  with  only  8.24  per  cent. 

These  figures  show  conclusively  that  there  are  other  factors 
besides  the  requirements  of  the  trade  that  determine  the  amount 
spent  for  clothes.  It  is  possible  that  the  fact  that  sales,  clerical  and 
professional  women,  and  often  waitresses  usually  work  eight  hours 
or  less  a  day,  while  the  factory  women  more  often  than  not  work 
the  full  fifty-six  hours  per  week  permitted  by  law,  may  cause  the 
difference.  Not  only  have  those  working  a  shorter  day  more  time 
to  shop  and  purchase  carefully,  but  they  have  likewise  more  time, 
and  very  likely  also  strength  and  ability  to  do  part  of  their  own 
sewing,  thus  cutting  down  the  expense.  The  returns  support  this 
inference.^  Few^er  kitchen  workers  do  part  of  their  own  sewing 
than  factory  women,  but,  as  has  been  noted,  the  former  are,  as  a 
rule,  older  women  with  families  and  homes  to  keep  up.  Other 
demands  on  their  time  would  preclude  very  much  attention  to  the 
making  of  clothing,  as,  indeed,  the  heavy  drain  on  a  small  income 
prevents  the  buying.  About  the  same  proportion  of  professional 
women  report  making  clothes  for  themselves,  but  this  is  explained 
by  the  fact  of  the  comparatively  high  incomes.  The  small 
proportion  of  factory  workers  who  do  their  own  sewing  at 
home  appears  the  more  striking  when  it  is  added  that  this  class 
includes  employes  in  dressmaking  and  tailoring  establishments,  who 
sew  for  their  living,  and  might  be  supposed  because  of  their  skill 
with  the  needle  to  sew  also  for  themselves.  Of  the  19  per  cent, 
of  factory  workers  who  do  their  own  sewing,  about  two-thirds  are 
employed  in  such  shops,  leaving  a  possible  6  per  cent,  of  factory 
workers  employed  in  other  classes  of  establishments  who  do  some 
of  their  own  sewing.  This  fact  doubtless  accounts  in  part  of  the 
factory  woman's  large  clothing  expenses. 

There  is  another  possible  factor  in  the  situation  which  may  be 
important.  Sales  and  clerical  women  and  waitresses  have  working 
conditions  which  perhaps  supply  them  with  much  of  what  we  may 
call  the  "social"  need.  They  come  in  contact  with  many  people 
every  day ;  sales  girls  in  particular  have  much  variety  of  intercourse 
in  their  calling.    The  factory  worker,  however,  is  shut  up  with  her 

^See  Table  3,  p.  75. 


Clothing  73 

machine,  in  a  dingy  shop,  with  the  same  group  of  associates  day 
after  day,  and  a  group  as  busy  as  she.  There  is  usually  little  or 
no  variation  of  employment;  close  attention  to  the  same  operation 
on  the  same  machine  fills  the  daily  ten  hours  of  probably  the 
majority  of  factory  workers.  This  monotony  of  occupation  natu- 
rally stimulates  a  craving  for  outside  relaxation  and  indulgence. 
Thus,  while  factory  employment  itself  makes  small  demands  on  the 
workers  as  regards  clothing,  the  reaction  against  the  dreary 
monotony  of  the  daily  toil  tends  to  promote  extravagance  in  clothing 
as  well  as  is  amusement.  So,  if  the  statement  that  those  varieties 
of  work  which  lead  to  direct  contact  with  the  public  demand  the 
largest  expenditure  for  clothing  seems  to  find  an  exception  in  the 
factory  worker  it  is  not  difficult  to  understand  the  reason.  The 
factory  worker  has  a  longer  day,  has  less  time  for  making  her  own 
clothes,  and  has  greater  monotony  of  work,  and  so  has  greater  need 
of  social  diversion. 

The  average  cost  of  clothing  by  wage  groups  advances  regularly 
from  slightly  less  than  $i  per  week,  for  the  lowest  wage  group, 
those  earning  $3  to  $5,  to  slightly  over  $2  per  week  for  those  earn- 
ing $12  to  $14.^  For  the  highest  wage  group,  those  earning  $15 
and  over,  the  amount  is  not  much  greater,  being  only  $2.08  per 
week.  The  proportion  of  income  expended  for  clothing  declines 
pretty  steadily  from  21,80  per  cent,  for  the  lowest  group  to  12.24 
per  cent,  for  the  highest.  Thus,  through  the  whole  range  of  earn- 
ings the  average  cost  of  clothing  varies  only  between  one  and  two 
dollars  a  week  approximately.  Evidently,  then,  the  working  woman, 
with  only  ordinary  ability  to  manage  her  wardrobe  economically, 
with  the  usual  trade  demands  on  it,  and  the  average  amount  of 
time  for  sewing  and  mending,  cannot  dress  on  less  than  $1  per 
week  as  a  minimum,  and  does  not  need  as  a  dress  allowance  more 
than  $2  per  week.  Dressing  on  an  allowance  within  these  limits 
means,  as  a  rule,  doing  some  sewing  and  laundry  out  of  working 
hours.  About  five-sixths  of  the  women  regularly  do  a  part  of 
their  own  dressmaking,  in  addition  to  mending,  and  over  three- 
fourths  regularly  do  a  part  or  all  of  their  laundry.  As  to  the  ade- 
quacy of  clothing  provided  for  one  or  two  dollars  a  week,  it  is 
possible  to  judge  this  only  by  examining  a  wardrobe  kept  replenished 
and  in  order  on  this  amount.  The  investigator  examined  many 
wardrobes  of  many  degrees  of  adequacy,  and  could  only  conclude 

»See  Tables  2  and  4,  pp.  74,  75. 


74 


The  Lhing  Wage  of  Women  Workers 


that  more  than  in  any  other  part  of  a  working  woman's  expenses, 
the  matter  of  clothing  depends  on  the  taste  and  cleverness  of  the 
individual.  The  figures  of  expenditure  here  tabulated  may  be 
taken  to  represent  a  fair  average  of  these  supplementary  qualities 
which  have  to  do  with  economical  buying. 


TABLE  I. — Average  Annual  Expenditures  for  Clothing,  by 

Occupation. 


Occupation. 


Professional .... 

Clerical 

Sales 

Factory 

Waitresses 

Kitchen  workers 


Average 
income 


$695.41 
499-59 
357-34 
382.37 
364.42 

342.30 


Expenditure  for  clothing. 


Amount. 


)II2  .  27 

70-43 
68.41 
70.71 
57.82 
28.  22 


Percentage 
of  income. 


16.  14 
14.  10 
19.14 
18.49 

15-87 
8.24 


TABLE  2. — Average  Annual  Expenditures  for  Clothing,  by 
Wage  Groups. 


Wage. 


$3.00 

4.00 

5.00 

6.00 

7.00 

8.00 

9.00 
10.00 

11  .00 

12  .00  "] 
13.00  \ 
14.00  J 
15.00 

and 
over 

Total 


Average 
income. 


$231.36 


350.15 


493-54 


629. 28 


885.31 


Expenditure  for  clothing. 


Amount. 


$50.41 

66.44 

88.99 

105.87 

108. 40 


Percentage 
of  income. 


21  .  60 
18.97 
18.03 
16.82 
12  .  24 


Number  buying 
clothes. 


By  cash  or 
employees' 
store  credit. 


14 
54 
28 

5 
9 


By  install- 
ment. 


17 


TABLE  3. 


Clothing 

-Home  Dressmaking  and  Laundry  Work,  by 
Occupation. 


75 


Occupation. 


Professional 

Clerical 

Sales 

Factory 

Waitresses 

Kitchen  workers . 

Total 


Cost  of  laundry 
per  year. 


Amount. 


522  .  26 
14.  26 
10.37 
14.84 
14.03 
23.90 


Percentage 

of  income. 


Number 
doing 

part  or 
all  of 

laundry. 


14 
19 

39 

45 

3 

7 


127 


Number 
doing  no 
laundry. 


4 
13 


13 
o 


39 


Number 
who 
make 

part  or 
all  of 

clothes. 


7 
41 
^7 
17 
16 

I 


99 


Number 

who 
make  no 
clothes. 


TABLE  4. — Cost  op  Laundry  and  Clothing,  by  Wage  Groups. 


Wage. 


Cost  of  laundry 
per  year. 


Amount. 


Percent- 
age of 
income. 


Number 
doing 

part  or 

all  of 

laundry. 


Number 
doing  no 
laundry. 


Yearly  cost  of  clothes 

and  laundry 

combined. 


Amount. 


Percent- 
age of 
income. 


$3.00  "1 
4.00  }• 
5.00  J 
6.00 
7  .00 
8.00 
9.00 

10  .00 

11  .00 

12  .00  "] 
13.00  [• 
14.00  J 
15  .00 

and 
over 


!S2.42 
12  .  22 
18.32 
14.71 
22.48 


1.05 

3-49 
3-71 
2.34 
2.54 


Total . 


78 

30 

3 

5 
127 


18 
9 

5 

5 


$52.83 
78.66 
107.31 
120. 58 
130.88 


22  .84 
22  .46 
21.  74 
19.16 
14.78 


CHAPTER   VII 

HEALTH 

Expenditure  for  health  varies  considerably  for  different  occu- 
pations and  wage  groups,  both  in  respect  to  amount  of  outlay  and 
its  proportion  to  income.  It  is  not  possible,  however,  to  draw 
definite  conclusions  from  the  figures  as  to  the  effect  on  health  of 
workers  in  the  various  occupations  and  wage  groups.  Workers 
receiving  low  wages  are  often  obliged  to  do  without  needed  medical 
treatment,  although  by  reason  of  small  earnings  and  consequent 
hardship  they  may  need  it  the  more.  On  the  other  hand,  free 
treatment  is  frequently  received  by  working  women  of  all  classes. 

The  tables  show  that  the  professional  woman  pays  the  largest 
annual  amount  for  health,  $26.38 ;  and  the  factory  worker  the  next, 
$23.96.^  The  professional  woman  may  be  supposed  to  work  under 
the  best  sanitary  conditions,  with  the  least  exacting  hours ;  the 
factory  woman  under  possibly  the  worst  conditions,  for  the  longest 
hours.  Yet  the  actual  money  spent  for  health  in  these  two  groups 
is  almost  equal.  Obviously,  therefore,  it  is  no  index  of  actual  con- 
ditions in  the  occupations.  The  professional  woman  may  be  edu- 
cated up  to  a  higher  sense  of  responsibility  for  her  own  physical 
well  being,  or  she  may  demand  a  higher  grade  of  medical  attention, 
or  she  may  accept  less  free  treatment.  Certainly  her  income  is 
much  higher  than  the  factory  worker's.  Twenty-six  dollars  and 
thirty-eight  cents  represents  3.79  per  cent,  of  her  income,  while 
$23.96  is  6.27  per  cent,  of  the  income  of  the  factory  worker.  It 
is  significant,  furthermore,  that  the  factory  worker,  with  an  income 
averaging  only  a  few  dollars  more  than  that  of  saleswomen  and 
kitchen  workers,  spends  a  much  larger  amount  for  health.  Sales- 
women spend  $19.05  per  year,  and  kitchen  workers  $8.64.  Wait- 
resses, with  a  somewhat  smaller  income  than  factory  workers,  spend 
$11.45.  The  percentage  of  income  expended  for  health  by  the 
factory  woman  is  also  the  highest,  6.27  per  cent.  The  percentages 
for  other  classes  are:  Saleswomen,  5.33;  professional,  3.79; 
waitress,  3.14;  kitchen,  2.52.  It  may  be  concluded,  therefore,  that 
factory  women  as  a  class  have  a  comparatively  heavy  burden  in 
caring  for  their  health. 

^See  Table  1,  p.  78. 

(76) 


Health  yy 

Sales  girls  stand  next  to  factory  workers  in  the  scale  of  health 
expenditures.  Much  was  formerly  written  and  said  of  the  injury 
to  the  health  of  shop  women  through  constant  standing  at  their 
work,  and  the  law  requiring  seats  behind  the  counter  was  the  result. 
It  is  doubtful,  however,  whether  these  seats  are  a  sufficient  remedy, 
for  during  the  later  hours  of  the  day,  when  weariness  increases,  the 
rush  of  customers  also  increases  and  there  is  little  chance  for  sitting. 
Very  few  report  availing  themselves  of  the  seats.  Some  report  that 
the  seats  are  there  in  compliance  to  law,  but  that  they  are  repri- 
manded by  the  floor  walker  for  sitting.  There  is  still  much  com- 
plaint of  the  results  of  prolonged  standing,  which  very  often  takes 
the  form  of  pronated  ankles  and  "flat  foot,"  a  painful  trouble. 

Waitresses  and  clerical  women  spend  almost  the  same  amount 
on  health.  The  hours  of  the  waitress  are  long,  but  her  busy  time  is 
frequently  short.  There  is  change  of  air,  and  certainly  exercise  in 
plenty.  The  clerical  woman  has  usually  very  reasonable  hours  and 
good  general  working  conditions. 

The  small  expenditure  for  health  recorded  in  the  case  of  the 
kitchen  worker,  only  2.52  per  cent,  of  her  incom.e,  may  be  due  to  the 
fact  that  her  occupation  supplies  her  with  food  in  sufficient  quantity 
and  involves  no  injurious  degree  of  physical  strain. 

The  classification  of  health  expenditures  by  wage  groups  shows, 
first,  a  marked  increase  in  amount  up  to  the  $9  to  $12  group ;  second, 
a  practically  stationary  expenditure  for  the  next  group,  of  $12  to 
$14  workers;  and,  third,  a  great  decrease  for  the  highest  group,  of 
$15  and  over.^  This  showing  indicates  that  insufficient  wages  do  not 
permit  of  essential  medical  treatment,  and  that  high  wages  tend  to 
diminish  the  need  of  such  treatment.  The  percentage  of  the  income 
spent  for  the  maintenance  of  health  steadily  decreases  with  the  in- 
crease of  wages,  from  5.80  down  to  1.89,  showing  the  gradual 
lessening  of  this  burden  with  the  expansion  of  earnings. 

The  use  of  free  beds  in  hospitals  or  dispensaries  is  reported 
frequently  on  the  schedules.  The  testimony  of  the  women  con- 
cerning their  treatment  in  these  institutions  is  interesting  in  view 
of  the  criticism  often  heard  regarding  neglect  and  abuse  of  charity 
cases.  In  every  case  in  which  experience  in  a  free  bed  was  reported 
the  investigator  questioned  the  person  at  some  length  on  the  kind  of 
treatment  received.    The  women  were  usually  enthusiastic  over  the 

iSee  Table  2,  p.  78. 


78 


The  Living  Wage  of  Women  Workers 


treatment  and  the  kindness  which  they  met  on  every  hand  while  in 
the  hospital.  A  few  complained  of  neglect  and  careless  treatment. 
The  investigator,  however,  has  hnppened  upon  sufficient  evidence  of 
like  neglect  in  more  or  less  expensive  private  hospitals  to  lead  to 
the  conclusion  that  such  treatment  is  an  occasional  incident  of  hos- 
pital experience  in  general,  and  is  not  a  distinguishing  feature  of 
charity  cases. 


TABLE  I. — Average  Annual  Expenditures  for  Health,  by 
Occupation. 


Occupation. 


Professional .... 

Clerical 

Sales 

Factory 

Waitresses 

Kitchen  workers 


Expenditure  for  health. 


Average 

income. 

Amount. 

Percentage  of 
income. 

$695.41 

$26.38 

3-79 

499-59 

12.44 

2-49 

357-34 

19.05 

5-33 

382.37 

23.96 

6.27 

364.42 

11-45 

3-14 

342.30 

8.64 

2.52 

TABLE  2. — Average  Annual    Expenditures  for    Health,    by  Wage 

Groups. 


Wage. 


Average 
income. 


Expenditure  for  health. 


Amount 


Percentage  of 
income. 


$3.00 
4.00 
5.00 
6.00 
7.00 
8.00 
9.00 

10  .00 

11  .00 

12  .00 
13.00 
14.00 
15.00 

and 
over  J 


5231.36 
350-15 
493-54 
629. 28 
885.31 


'13-43 
18.81 
22  .09 
22 .  91 
16.75 


5.80 

5-37 
4-48 
3-64 
1.89 


CHAPTER   VIII 

SAVINGS   AND   DEBTS 

Information  on  this  subject  was  obtained  with  the  greatest 
difficulty.  In  fact,  this  was  the  only  variety  of  information  that 
the  investigator  found  impossible  to  get  from  the  majority  of 
women.  Probably  the  greater  number  carrying  the  burden  of  debt 
absolutely  denied  the  existence  of  anything  of  the  sort.  The  general 
attitude  was  that  of  "not  talking  too  much,"  on  the  principle  which 
rules  working  women  as  a  whole  that  the  less  said  about  private 
affairs  the  less  there  may  be  to  regret.  The  figures  concerning  debt 
are,  consequently,  very  incomplete.  Information  about  savings  was 
more  easily  secured,  although  here,  too,  it  was  difficult  to  push  in- 
quiries beyond  broad  generalities.  Increasing  suspicion  was  aroused 
at  once  by  any  interest  in  the  details  of  the  subject.  It  was  fre- 
quently difficult,  furthermore,  to  differentiate  between  temporary 
and  permanent  savings.  A  statement  by  an  eight-dollar-a-week 
woman  that  she  saves  regularly  three  dollars  a  week  may  sound 
well;  but  such  "regular"  savings  are  frequently  regular  for  only  a 
few  weeks  at  a  time  and  are  made  for  the  express  purpose  of  a  new 
spring  suit  or  the  winter's  supply  of  clothing. 

The  problem  of  thrift  in  general  is  a  very  different  one  among 
women  from  what  it  is  among  men.  The  whole  attitude  of  women 
toward  saving  for  the  future  is  peculiarly  discouraging.  There  is, 
first  of  all,  a  general  apathy,  the  result  of  generations  of  accustomed 
reliance  on  man  as  the  provider.  Even  in  the  case  of  women  who 
have  been  forced  out  into  industrial  life  and  who  are  self-supporting 
this  inherent  sense  of  dependence  is  seldom  outgrown.  It  is  always 
there,  acting,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  as  a  dead  weight  which 
prevents  any  real  initiative  in  saving  for  the  future.  With  younger 
wage-earning  women  there  is  always  the  expectation  of  marriage. 
Work  is  merely  a  makeshift  until  marriage  comes.  Moreover,  in 
the  case  of  women  in  industry  where  the  wage  is  comparatively 
small  and  the  demands  of  living  and  the  craving  for  small  extrava- 
gances far  greater  with  women  than  with  men,  the  possibility  and 
the  duty  of  putting  aside  a  part  of  the  income  for  the  future  seem 
less  urgent  to  the  individual. 

(79) 


So  The  Lwing  Wage  of  Women  Workers 

It  is  true  that  many  women  who  are  now  carrying  economic 
burdens  for  others  ought  to  be  expected  to  develop  a  certain  sense 
of  foresight  for  the  future.  But  the  fact  that  such  women  look 
forward  to  less  responsibility  as  the  years  go  on,  because  these 
burdens  usually  mean  the  care  of  parents  or  of  other  older  relations, 
brings  in  a  new  element  not  conducive  to  saving  for  the  future.  On 
the  other  hand,  men  who  have  persons  dependent  upon  them  must 
expect  the  economic  responsibilities  of  later  life  to  become  more 
and  more  exacting.  That  is  to  say,  man's  burden  is  going  to  grow, 
while  woman's  decreases.  In  one  case  there  is  the  imperativeness 
of  saving  for  the  future,  in  the  other  there  is  the  utmost  present 
tax  on  the  income  wath  hope  of  abatement  in  later  years. 

A  report  of  the  Women's  Committee  on  Savings  Bank  Insur- 
ance of  Boston,  March,  1910,  sets  forth  some  significant  facts  con- 
cerning the  extent  of  saving  among  women  workers.  The  study  is 
based  on  interviews  with  over  1300  women.  According  to  this 
report,  "17  per  cent,  of  working  women  may  be  said  to  have  a 
satisfactory  amount  of  savings."  Further,  it  appears  that  11  per 
cent,  of  the  women  interviewed  carry  two  insurance  policies,  and 
47  per  cent,  carry  one  policy,  while  38  per  cent,  have  savings  in 
some  form  other  than  insurance.  Regarding  the  relation  between 
savings  and  earnings,  the  report  states : 

"The  most  important  result  of  this  section  of  discussion  is  the 
light  received  on  the  wage  question.  It  is  not  the  earner  of  a  wage 
under  six  dollars — whether  living  at  home  or  not — who  is  saving; 
we  do  find  the  six  dollar  to  nine  dollar,  or  nine  dollar  to  twelve 
dollar  wage-earner  saving,  according  to  the  type  of  work  or  worker ; 
and  we  find  both  the  woman  twenty  to  twenty-five  years  of  age 
and  the  woman  under  twenty  years  of  age  saving.  But  it  is  only 
when  the  highly  skilled  worker  is  receiving  the  twelve  to  twenty 
dollar  wage  that  sufficient  saving  becomes  more  common,  29  per 
cent.,  and  that  an  attempt  at  saving  is  seen  among  half  or  more  than 
half  of  the  workers." 

The  committee  concludes  that  "saving  among  wage-earning 
women  is  proportionately  small,"  and  suggests  the  following  reasons 
for  their  general  unwillingness  to  save: 

(a)  The  lack  of  responsibility,  due  to  the  fact  that  so  many 
women  turn  all  the  earnings  into  the  family  exchequer,  and  thus  no 
sense  of  self-dependence  is  developed. 


Savings  and  Debts  81 

(b)  This  is  accompanied  by  the  low  wage  at  the  beginning  and 
continued  for  a  longer  time  than  a  proper  apprenticeship,  due  to  the 
early  age  of  entering  industry  and  the  lack  of  training  for  the 
industry. 

(c)  The  seasonal  character  of  much  of  the  work  in  which 
women  are  employed,  and  the  ignorance  in  the  younger  years  as  to 
supplementary  occupation,  or  the  lack  of  certainty  as  to  permanence 
of  position,  and  hence  uncertainty  of  ability  to  make  payments. 

(d)  The  fact  that  such  a  large  number  have  one  or  more  insur- 
ance policies,  although  usually  carried  by  parents,  creating  a  feeling 
of  satisfaction  or  at  any  rate  an  aversion  to  an  investment-carrying 
insurance. 

(e)  The  unfamiliar  idea  of  deciding  for  oneself  as  to  any 
investment.  The  continued  custom  of  economic  dependence  in  judg- 
ment upon  the  opinions  of  the  men,  the  family  or  acquaintances ;  and 
the  fact  that  men  do  not  regard  the  girls  of  the  family  as  either 
competent  to  decide  or  likely  to  be  compelled  to  carry  the  burden  of 
economic  independence. 

(/)  The  greater  acquaintance  with  co-operative  banks  and 
savings  banks  for  investment,  and  the  unattractiveness  of  the  idea 
of  insurance. 

(g)  The  fact  that  so  very  large  a  number  live  at  home,  and 
have  therefore  the  feeling  of  dependence  in  judgment,  and  the  lack 
of  the  necessity  of  being  self-supporting,  although  actually,  perhaps, 
contributing  more  to  the  family  than  the  equivalent  of  their  own 
expenses. 

The  tables  at  the  end  of  this  chapter  show  that  the  professional 
woman  saves  the  most  and  has  the  highest  average  debt.^  The  latter 
may  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  several  from  this  group  have 
borrowed  money  for  their  education,  expecting  to  pay  it  off  little 
by  little  from  their  own  earnings.  The  next  highest  average  of 
savings  is  that  of  the  clerical  woman,  who  also  has  the  highest 
average  surplus  remaining  after  the  average  debt  is  subtracted.  The 
next  highest  surplus  is  that  of  the  kitchen  workers,  who  stand  third 
in  the  savings  column  and  last  in  the  debt  column.  This  is  possibly 
because  the  greater  age  and  heavier  responsibilities  of  this  class 
make  them  more  cautious  of  incurring  debts  which  they  may  have 
great  difficulty  in  paying  off.     Waitresses  and  factory  women  save 

*See  Table  1,  p.  83. 


S2  The  Liznng  Wage  of  Women  Workers 

about  the  same  amount  and  carry  about  an  equal  burden  of  average 
indebtedness.  Saleswomen  save  the  least,  are  less  in  debt  than  any 
other  group,  excepting  kitchen  workers,  and  have  the  smallest 
surplus. 

The  classification  by  wage  groups  shows  that  savings,  as  might 
be  expected,  increase  pretty  regularly  from  an  average  of  $8.96  a 
year  in  the  lowest  division  to  $135.91  a  year  in  the  highest.^  The 
figures  for  debt  exhibit  no  tendency  to  rise  or  fall  with  any  regu- 
larity and  cannot  be  made  the  basis  for  any  deductions,  as  the 
returns  on  which  they  were  based,  as  already  noted,  w^ere  incom- 
plete and  untrustworthy. 

The  form  of  saving  differs  widely.  A  popular  form  among 
working  women  is  the  co-operative  savings  bank.  Investing  money 
in  this  way  necessitates  regular  saving,  as  one  dollar  must  be  de- 
posited monthly  for  each  share  that  is  taken.  Fines  are  levied  for 
failure  to  deposit  the  regular  amount,  and  borrowing  on  amounts 
previously  deposited  is  discouraged  by  charging  a  rate  of  interest 
slightly  above  that  paid  by  the  bank.  The  plan  of  stamp  savings 
has  been  developed  to  a  certain  extent,  chiefly  through  the  volunteer 
efforts  of  the  settlement  workers.  It  is  to  be  doubted,  however, 
whether  stamp  saving  really  encourages  the  starting  of  bank  accounts, 
as  is  the  purpose.  This  agency  is  used  rather,  it  would  seem,  as  a 
convenient  sort  of  "stocking"  in  which  to  accumulate  money  toward 
the  new  suit  or  hat,  or  the  Christmas  gifts.  Firms  employing  large 
numbers  of  workers  frequently  have  savings  organizations  for  their 
employes.  Probably  the  most  common  method  of  saving  among 
working  women  is  insurance  in  some  form.^  Among  employes'  asso- 
ciations this  is  usually  in  the  form  of  sickness  or  death  benefit;  in 
other  cases  the  common  form  is  endowment  or  death  policy.  The 
greater  number  report  death  policies.  Illness  and  endowment 
policies  are  about  even  in  number.  Over  40  per  cent,  of  those 
reporting  carry  no  insurance. 

The  only  permanent  saving  among  working  women  appears  to 
be  that  which  takes  the  form  of  insurance.  Savings  deposited  in 
banks  are  usually  drawn  out  to  meet  the  needs  of  a  less  prosperous 
time,  and  do  not  accumulate  long,  while  payments  toward  an  endow- 
ment policy  or  other  benefit  are  made,  if  possible,  even  while  debts 

iSee  Table  2,  p.  83. 
•See  Table  3,  p.    84. 


Savings  and  Debts 


83 


are  accumulating.  Next  to  insurance  in  permanence  comes  saving 
through  the  co-operative  banks,  in  v^hich  shareholders  are  fined  for 
not  depositing  the  regular  amount.  Lowest  in  respect  to  permanence, 
rank  stamp  savings,  these  being  used  up  within  a  few  months,  as 
a  general  thing.  On  the  whole,  savings  on  any  wage  below  $15  are 
largely  a  fictitious,  temporary  surplus  of  income  over  expenses. 


TABLE  I. — Average  Annual  Savings  and  Debts,  by  Occupatioi 


Occupation. 


Professional 

Clerical 

Sales 

Factory 

Waitresses 

Elitchen  workers. 


Savings. 

Amoiint. 

Percentage 

of  income. 

$130.41 

18-75 

88 

65 

17-74 

3« 

55 

10.79 

SI 

20 

13-39 

.';4 

55 

14.97 

61 

67 

18.02 

Debts. 


Amount. 


$95-54 
27-39 
17.91 
29.36 
30.28 
17.07 


Percentage 
of  income. 


-74 
.48 
.01 
.68 
-31 
-99 


Surplus  of  savings 
over  debts. 


Amount. 


^34- 87 
61 .  26 
20.  64 
21 .84 
24.  27 
44.60 


Percentage 
of  income. 


5.01 
12  .  26 
5-78 
5-71 
6.66 
13-03 


TABLE  2. — Average  Annual  Savings  and    Debts,  by    Wage    Groups. 


Savings. 

Debts. 

Insurance, 
yearly. 

Surplus 

of 

savings 

over 

debts. 

Deficit 

Wage. 

Amount. 

Percent- 
age of 

Amount. 

Percent- 
age of 

Amount. 

Per- 
centage 
of  in- 

'of debts 

over 
savings. 

income. 

mcome. 

come. 

$3.00  1 

4.00   >  

$8.96 

3-87 

$29.09 

12.57 

$5-73 

2.48 

0 

$20. 13 

5.00  J 

6.00 

7.00    ■  . .  . . 

7.64 

2.18 

11.80 

3-37 

10.65 

3-04 

$35-84 

0 

8.00  J 

9.00 

10.00    >  ... . 

31-63 

6.41 

38.99 

7.90 

12.82 

2.60 

0 

7-36 

II .00  J 

12.00 

13.00   [  

84.72 

13.46 

9-75 

1-55 

18.96 

3.01 

74-97 

0 

14.00  J 

15.00 

and     • 

135-91 

15-35 

104.54 

II. 81 

21.25 

2  .40 

31-37 

0 

over   J 

84  The  Living  Wage  of  IVomcn  IVorkcrs 

TABLE  3. — Average  Amount  of  Insurance,  by  Wage  Groups. 


Wage. 


$3.00 
4.00 
5.00 
6.00 
7  .00 
8.00 
9.00 
10.00 
II  .00 
12 .00  ] 
13.00  [ 
14.00  J 
15.00 
and 
over 


Savings. 


$8.96 
47.64 

84.72 
135-91 


Insurance. 


$5-73 
10.65 
12.82 
18.96 

21.25 


Percentage  of 
savings  in 
insurance. 


63-95 
22  .  36 

40.53 
22.38 

15-64 


CHAPTER   IX 

MISCELLANEOUS   EXPENDITURES    INCLUDING   RECREATION 
AND    EDUCATION 

Expenditure  for  recreation  covers  a  wide  range — theaters  and 
picture  shows,  excursions  and  outings,  books  and  magazines,  clubs 
and  societies,  and  innumerable  forms  of  amusement  and  indulgence. 
The  line  between  recreation  and  other  kinds  of  miscellaneous  expen- 
diture is  hard  to  draw.  In  particular,  recreational  and  educational 
expenditures  are  often  so  intimately  related  as  to  be  practically 
inseparable,  as,  for  example,  in  the  case  of  concerts  and  lectures. 
Any  separate  classification  here  is  of  necessity  more  or  less  arbitrary. 

It  may  be  noted  that  there  are  many  opportunities  for  recrea- 
tion and  education  open  to  women  workers  in  Boston  without  charge. 
Free  lectures,  Lowell  Institute  courses,  public  concerts,  municipal 
gymnasiums,  working  girls'  clubs,  and  social  settlements  offer  enter- 
tainment and  instruction  in  abundance  to  all  who  care  to  avail 
themselves  of  these  advantages.  The  investigator  was  impressed, 
however,  with  the  fact  that  these  clubs,  classes,  lectures  and 
other  opportunities  of  diversion  and  development  demand  a 
freshness  of  mind  and  body  that  but  few  women  after  the  day's 
work  have  left  to  give.  The  opportunities  are  there,  but  the  strength 
to  grasp  them  is  not.  Long  hours  and  low  wages  do  not  supply  the 
surplus  vitality  demanded  for  the  proper  enjoyment  of  these  eve- 
ning privileges.  If  the  wages  were  sufficient  to  provide  nourishing 
food  and  generally  comfortable  living  conditions,  and  if  the  working 
day  were  short  enough  to  allow  more  time  for  recuperation,  the 
working  girl  might  make  good  use  of  these  chances  for  intellectual, 
physical  and  social  development.  But,  under  existing  conditions, 
it  is  only  those  whose  work  makes  light  demands  on  their  strength, 
or  who  are  exceptionally  vigorous,  who  can  earn  their  own  living, 
and  at  the  same  time  spend  their  evenings  profitably  in  the  pursuit 
of  pleasure  or  improvement. 

As  in  other  forms  of  expenditures,  the  professional  woman 
pays  the  most  for  recreation,  car  fares  and  incidental  expenses, 
and  gives  the  most  to  church,  charity,  and  the  support  of  others.^ 

»See  Table  1,  p.  8a. 

(8S? 


86  The  Living  JVage  of  Women  Workers 

On  the  other  hand,  she  spends  Httle  for  education,  this,  presumably, 
having  been  acquired  and  paid  for  in  the  past.  Clerical  women 
spend  tlie  next  largest  amount  for  recreation,  for  car  fare  and  for 
church,  charity  and  gifts.  They  also  spend  the  largest  amount  for 
education.  Sales  girls  spend  for  education  almost  as  much  as 
clerical  women ;  they  stand  third  in  expenditure  for  recreation  and 
the  support  of  others.  Their  incidental  expenses  are  the  smallest. 
Factory  women  rank  third  in  most  branches  of  miscellaneous  expen- 
diture, but  fall  back  to  fourth  place  in  recreation.  Waitresses  spend 
less  than  factory  women  on  recreation,  almost  nothing  on  education, 
less  than  any  but  kitchen  workers  on  church,  charity  and  gifts,  and 
less  than  any  but  clerical  women  on  the  support  of  others. 

The  percentage  tables  show  sales  girls  spending  the  largest  pro- 
portions for  education  and  recreation.  Professional  and  fac- 
tory women  give  away  the  largest  percentages  of  their  income. 
There  are  many  among  clerical  and  factory  workers  who  regularly 
give  the  Biblical  tithe,  and  at  each  rise  in  salary  conscientiously 
increase  their  contributions  to  a  tenth  of  their  income.  'T  put  one- 
tenth  into  a  box  I  keep  for  that  purpose,"  said  one  woman,  "and 
when  a  collection  is  taken  at  the  factory  for  some  one,  or  when  I 
am  asked  to  contribute  to  something,  I  just  take  it  out  of  that  box. 
When  it  is  gone  I  haven't  any  more  to  give  until  next  salary  day, 
but  one-tenth  always  goes  into  it  whether  it  is  empty  or  full." 
Working  women  as  a  class  are  astonishingly  generous.  Probably 
the  correct  reason  is  the  one  so  often  given,  that  one  must  have 
experience  in  order  to  sympathize,  and  must  have  felt  the  need, 
to  realize  what  it  means  to  some  one  else.  They  are  many  of  them 
near  to  want  themselves,  and  this  very  fact  makes  them  quick  to 
give  help  to  those  a  little  nearer  than  themselves. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  tables  that  working  women,  as  a  whole, 
spend  more  of  the  total  amount  that  goes  for  miscellaneous  expen- 
ditures on  others  than  on  themselves.^  In  only  two  occupations  is 
this  not  the  case.  Clerical  women  spend  about  a  third  of  this  allow- 
ance on  others  and  saleswomen  almost  one-half ;  the  others  spend  less 
than  one-half  on  themselves.  Kitchen  workers  spend  the  bulk  of 
their  surplus  money  on  others. 

The  expenditure  for  recreation  shows  no  regularity  of  increase 
with  increasing  wages,  as  do  most  miscellaneous  expenses.-    This 

iSee  Tables  3  and  4,  p.  90. 
^See  Table  2,  p.  89. 


Miscellaneous  Expenditures — Recreation,  Education  87 

is  due  to  the  difficulty  of  classifying  expenditures  for  recreation, 
already  mentioned.  Doubtless,  if  all  items  that  really  belong  under 
education  were  included  in  this  class,  the  figures  would  show  the 
usual  upward  tendency.  Education  expenses  increase  up  to  the  $9 
to  $12  group,  then  decrease.  The  amount  given  to  church  and 
charity,  to  clubs,  and  as  gifts  increases  steadily  from  $7.58  up  to 
$42.62;  that  for  the  support  of  others  also  increases  from  $21.25  up 
to  $193.78.  Car  fares  on  the  whole  increase  steadily.  Incidental 
expenses  fluctuate. 

The  amounts  spent  on  others  increase  from  $28.83  to  $236.40. 
On  the  whole,  these  figures  increase  with  the  rising  wage  up  to  the 
$9  to  $11  group.  The  irregularities  come  in  the  groups  beyond  this. 
There  are  a  comparatively  small  number  of  cases  in  the  two  highest 
wage  groups  so  that  the  individual  irregularities  of  spending  per- 
haps have  a  greater  effect  here  than  in  the  preceding  groups.  How- 
ever, these  individual  irregularities  certainly  tend  markedly  down- 
ward, to  bring  the  average  of  the  $12  group  so  far  below  the  $9 
group.  And  the  average  beneficence  of  the  highest  wage  group,  it 
may  be  noted,  is  not  materially  higher  than  the  $9  group.  Evidently 
the  pleasure  wants  are  practically  satisfied,  then,  in  the  $9  group.  It 
is  possible,  of  course,  that  what  may  be  called  a  state  of  equilibrium 
is  reached  at  this  point.  That  is,  the  necessary  comforts  of  living 
have  risen  to  a  sufficiently  adequate  point  at  this  wage  group  to  ren- 
der less  efifective  the  call  of  the  theatre  and  the  amusement  park 
away  from  the  sordidness  of  everyday  life,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
amount  which  may  be  spent  for  amusements  is  large  enough  to  per- 
mit of  a  reasonable  quantity.  The  "for  others"  column  shows  a  quite 
different  result.  In  the  lowest  wage  group,  the  amount  spent  on 
others  is  much  smaller  than  the  amount  spent  on  self.  In  the  next 
two  groups,  the  expenditures  are  about  evenly  divided  between 
others  and  self.  In  the  fourth  group  the  amount  spent  for  others 
becomes  much  the  larger.  And  in  the  highest  group,  the  great  bulk 
goes  to  others. 

According  to  these  figures,  then,  the  average  working  woman 
does  not  squander  her  income  above  the  necessities  of  life  on 
frivolity  and  pleasure,  as  is  frequently  assumed,  but,  beyond  a 
reasonable  amount  spent  on  herself,  devotes  a  much  larger  sum  to 
the  welfare  of  others. 


88 


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Miscellaneous  Expenditures — Recreation,  Education  89 


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■<*< 

00 

0)  0 

10 

CM 

CO 

^ 

0 

Co' 

Oa 

10 

<-5 

CO 

lO 

OS 

CM 

CM 

CO 

to 

e^ 

m 

«i 

d 

^ 

,— ^ 

— ^ 

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— A— > 

,— ^ 

8S§ 

gss 

8SS 

gss 

co'-fliio 

cc't>.o6 

o'o-I 

cm'co^' 

«» 

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r-(»— t 

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0 

90 


The  Lk'ing  JVage  of  IV omen  Workers 


TABLE  3. — Average  Annual  Expenditures  for  Self  and  for 
Others,  by  Occupation. 


Occupation. 


Professional .... 

Clerical 

Sales 

Factory 

Waitresses 

Kitchen  workers 


Spent  on  self. 

Spent  on  others. 
(Church,  charity. 

(Incidentals,  recrea- 

tion, education, 

clubs,  gifts,  and  sup- 

and car  fares.) 

port  of  others.) 

$107. 15 

$240. 20 

1 10. 16 

68.95 

92.76 

88.74 

74-99 

87.23 

60.56 

61  .  64 

34-14 

112.57 

TABLE  4. — Average  Annual  Expenditures  for  Self  and  for 
Others,  by  Wage  Groups. 


Wage. 


$3-00 

4.00 

5.00 

6.00 

7.00 

8.00 

9.00  ] 
10.00   > 
II .00  J 
12  .00 
13.00 
14.00 
15.00 

and 

over 


Spent  on  self. 
(Incidentals,  recrea- 
tion, education 
and  car  fares.) 


Spent  on  others. 

(Church,  charity, 

clubs,  gifts,  and 

support  of  others.) 


TTIE  LIBRARY 

UNIVERGITY  OF  CATTF0?.N1X 


1& 


Ifliilli 

3   1158  00245  3( 


,,i{J;  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITV 


AA   001 


257  066  9 


